Yes or no, or...

I am often struck by my inability to say no in different situations, of wanting to say yes, be available, all that kinda stuff. Some of these I should, and some, I shouldn't.

The only thing is though, that I can't say yes to everything. I can't say yes to all I want to, or should do, or need to... it's not that I want to become a person who says no to everything, every one, and every request, but I just can't say yes to it all!

How does one choose, and choose wisely, in an age where it is expected people go from busy to busier, and it's that busyness that brings the self worth.. I know that's not where we, or I should get my self worth from?? No answers here, but something to ponder:)

Our brokenness in giving. Giving through meals.

I love meals, and shared meals… and would often choose a shared meal with friends over going out and doing something specific(though they are fun too!). Reading further through Henry Nouwen’s book, Life of the Beloved, I came across this, which really blessed me, because it rings so true! Over a meal everything levels out and you know who and where you are and where the fellow meal-eaters are at.

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Our brokenness opened us to a deeper way of sharing our lives and offering each other hope. Just as bread needs to be broken in order to be given, so, too, do out lives.

Isn’t a meal together the most beautiful expression of our desire to be given to each other in our brokenness> The table, the food, the drinks, the words, the stories: are they not the most intimate ways in which we not only express the desire to give our lives to each other, but also to do this in actuality? I very much like the expression “breaking bread together,” because there the breaking and the giving are so clearly one. When we eat together we are vulnerable to one another. Around the table we can’t wear weapons of any sort. Eating from the same bread and drinking from the same cup call us to live in unity and peace. This becomes very visible when there is conflict. Then eating and drinking together can become a truly threatening even, then the meal can become the most dreaded moment of the day. We all know about painful silences during dinner. They contrast starkly with the intimacy of eating and drinking together, and the distance between those sitting around the table can be unbearable.

One the other hand, a really peaceful and joyful meal together belongs to the greatest moments of life.

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It reminds me of many meals shared, the good, and the hard, but yes, a really peaceful and joyful meal shared among good friends and family truly becomes a beautiful collection of the greatest moments in life!

Can you imagine...?

Me teaching(!) the kids PE yesterday afternoon???:)
Other random events of the week... Mexican food on the beach, a Greek foodie movie set in Turkey...no set location of work- pick a place, almost any place:)

Alot of time with kids, of all ages, and loads of time spent in the cafe, or buying drinks at the cafe here....

Much fun!

Fortunately, PE turned more into active Theater sport games... but it happened, and I managed to do it, so was pleased:) We all did PE together, and even had fun too!

Painfully beautiful

I have a friend who plays the trumpet in a way that is just painfully beautiful(i.e. so beautiful it almost hurts!), which had started me thinking on the topic of things that are painfully beautiful, so beautiful it almost hurts!

I went to a funeral this evening of a friend of friends, it was tonight, when all the Stephen Ministry team meet together, however a close friend of many here had died suddenly, I didn't know him, but he was young. The music was painfully beautiful, the whole service was painfully beautiful, an incredible dedication to this amazing man of God who served and loved God in all he did.

One verse that was shared that baffles me, and continues to baffle me, in context, and out of context is this one. And yes, while I don't know why it is there I agree with the author's sentiments- I don't understand either!

There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden. Proverbs 30: 18-19

I am glad God's ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours!

Disturb us, O Lord

Disturb us, O Lord when we are too well-pleased with ourselves
when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little, because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, O Lord when with the abundance of things we possess,
we have lost our thirst for the water of life
when, having fallen in love with time,
we have ceased to dream of eternity
and in our efforts to build a new earth,
we have allowed our vision of Heaven to grow dim.

Stir us, O Lord to dare more boldly, to venture into wider seas
where storms show Thy mastery,
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.

In the name of Him who pushed back the horizons of our hopes
and invited the brave to follow.
Amen.

Sir Francis Drake

having seen sooo many answered prayers this weekend(including healing-wow!!:)) I am keen to stay in a place of being aware and praying, for the big and little, but miracles all the same! But for today, for my friends' dad, and another friends sister- bring on the miracle of healing!!:) What an awesome God we have!

Two comments..:)

Oh, that we would all be unsettled more! While I had a really unsettled day....the day after was awesome! Much answered prayer! There is still so much here that we need answers to though, but it will always be a step by step process, and for now, I am very encouraged!

I am also loving finding old friends in blog land- have I said that before??!! One day I will work out how to add them to my blog, but for now, I am so blessed by my amazing friends, near and far, in blog world, or the real world, and am very blessed I can call them my friends!! Thanks for being you!

Being unsettled!

This morning we were praying, and a regular feature in our prayer time is for more people, as we have some pretty major and specific gaps here right now!

A friend here had shared recently that a friend of theirs had heard them speaking about the work... and finally written to this person here... because they just couldn't settle. I was strongly stuck by this picture of a person at home, being unsettled, so unsettled that they finally had to do something about it because they knew that God wanted them elsewhere!

So, nice person that I am, I prayed today that the people that God wanted to be moving to other places around the world, would be unsettled- so unsettled that they would HAVE to go!

What happened though?? I spent the whole day.... being unsettled! However, it was a different kind of unsettled! It was one where I couldn't settle into what I needed to get done today, unless I was continuing to pray for those people I wanted to be unsettled!

So bring it on, if that's what it takes to get people into the places where God has called them, wherever it may be! It can be at home, or here too though:) But bring it on, cos where God calls is THE place to be!