Categories
Life(style)

#BigRead13: Day 9: Hope

Fascinating trigger word for #lentphotos today: “Focus” – love seeing the interesting twists – a journey in a Ford Focus, and a building that should be the ‘Focus’ of community, but I like this little photo I took of us focusing on some cows on the Isles of Scilly:

Focussing on Cows
http://www.seedresources.com/view/images/cows-in-focus

Was reminded of God’s focus upon us in these thoughts from @pamjweb:

With Jesus taking such careful interest in wild flowers, how much more we can be assured he takes a careful interest in our lives.  He is not far off, admiring from a distance, but crouched down among us, absorbed and attentive – noticing, caring, loving. You and me.

#BigRead13 Thoughts

Really interesting to see Rich’s thoughts from yesterday – what causes some to bow at the name of Jesus (is is respect), and how many use NO thought with the words?

Meantime, today, we’re looking at another effect that Aslan has (in poetic form):

At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more

Combined powerfully with Revelation 21:4 (thanks Jenn Riddlestone)

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain

This sounds amazing (do I mention here that my brain fights not to quote the TV ad “totes amaze balls”) – having experienced a range of such feelings – imagine what life would be like with total summer (with a ski slope if that’s our thing, surely). How can we breathe the sound of his roar into the lives of others on this earth – as Leanne has pointed out on Facebook – we don’t keep pointing people towards heaven when everything will be sorted and they have to live with the rubbish now – we can make people’s lives on earth less sorrowful also… hence all the social justice movements, and the current #IF campaign.

@40Acts

Good challenge – to seek to “invest” in others, and especially to think about how we cross the generations – can we hang out with those who are older/younger than us – and intentionally seek to make a difference in their lives. Me – I’ll make friends with anyone – whatever age!

#Do1NiceThing

I think this links quite nicely – double the encouragement!

Email / write / tweet a local charity you think does a great work and thank them and those who volunteer – #OthersRWorthIt

Brian Draper: 40 Acts

Quote smacks in the eye today:

“If you are too obsessed with success,” writes Thomas Merton, “you will forget to live. If you have learned only how to be a success, your life has probably been wasted.”

Am I pursuing success? I like to think not, that I’m seeking to do work well, hopefully make a difference in the world, etc. but I have never-ever worked out the balance thing – not going to say work-life balance, because I happen to be fortunate enough to do work that I enjoy, so the edges tend to be blurred!

I’ve just been reading in Reform Magazine article about David Livingstone by Stephen Tomkins:

“Yes, Livingstone turned out to be a lousy missionary himself, but he found a different way to contribute to mission…. we are not called to succeed, only to play our part. Livingstone never saw success for his mission, but died believing that it was in God’s hands, and that that was the best place for it.”

Brian then encourages us to hold something with our name on it in our hands and contemplate it – reflect upon something that is evidence of God’s divine beauty within you.

By admin

Dr Bex Lewis is passionate about helping people engage with the digital world in a positive way, where she has more than 20 years’ experience. She is Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University and Visiting Research Fellow at St John’s College, Durham University, with a particular interest in digital culture, persuasion and attitudinal change, especially how this affects the third sector, including faith organisations, and, after her breast cancer diagnosis in 2017, has started to research social media and cancer. Trained as a mass communications historian, she has written the original history of the poster Keep Calm and Carry On: The Truth Behind the Poster (Imperial War Museum, 2017), drawing upon her PhD research. She is Director of social media consultancy Digital Fingerprint, and author of Raising Children in a Digital Age: Enjoying the Best, Avoiding the Worst  (Lion Hudson, 2014; second edition in process) as well as a number of book chapters, and regularly judges digital awards. She has a strong media presence, with her expertise featured in a wide range of publications and programmes, including national, international and specialist TV, radio and press, and can be found all over social media, typically as @drbexl.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.