Oooo, #lentphotos is looking for “a quiet place”… we’ve not encountered a great deal of that this week… although I’m going for a quiet stretch of road – usually seems to be full of people, bicycles and animals!!
#BigRead13 Thoughts
Luke 9:24:
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
This seemed to make sense in the light of Hwin’s statement “You may eat me if you like. I’d sooner be eaten by you than fed by anyone else” to Aslan. Life was not worth living without Aslan (God) in it, so offer the whole self to him to do what he wishes with. If her time had come, then so be it.
In sermons in Ugandan churches over the past couple of days we’ve been reminded that everything that we have (health, wealth, relationships, etc.) is a gift from God – therefore we should appreciate it and make the most of it, appreciate every second. What we have now is enough, though we can aspire to be more (this is what I’ve been trying to get my head round with PEP – it’s moving people from an attitude of ‘victimhood’, dependent upon handouts, to one in which people aspire to make the most of themselves/their skills, and give their children a better life, without falling into a dissatisfied consumerist mindset… As spend our last day in a village tomorrow, and start the long trek back to Kampala and then the UK we thank God that we have nothing to fear from him or the circumstances in which we may find ourselves (even though our human selves clearly baulk at this sometimes!).
@40Acts
Well, that’s a straightforward one for us who are at #tfbloggers as we’ve spent all week engaging with people of a different culture, and eating (or in some cases trying subtly to avoid eating) a range of foodstuffs.. and trying different foodstuffs has always been a bit of a hobby – right back to Guiding days where we used to “do” world foods… when I first did it – making a pizza was pretty exotic!!
Brian Draper: Lent 40
Another inspiring series of thoughts and prompts from Brian – particularly liking the idea of the ‘community of the insignificant’ which goes against our celebrity-obsessed culture:
We can cease striving to ‘be ‘ someone, perhaps, for a day, and offer whatever we have, not for the sake of our self-advancement (or even piety) but simply for the sake of love.
And reminded me of yesterday’s thoughts about ‘the widow’s mite’ – as well as the gift from the woman who had set up her own bakery – she usually charges 200UGS for a bread bun (about 5p?), but gave us about 15 to take away us as a gift. Really touching that people will give so generously out of the little they have – they are SO happy that their stories are being shared around the world, and giving hope to others who feel they have no hope.
We are encouraged to undertake an act of kindness that will largely go unnoticed, except for the joy of the recipient.
Other
I had a bit of a lie-down earlier as #notbusy … we are in a constant round of “doing” this week – and that was expected, but just a few minutes out allows a little creativity to emerge and look at things afresh…
Now this is my kind of prayer walk:
Go on a thankful walk – see all the positive things you can be thankful for in your neighbourhood #do1nicething
Read more about from Pam’s reading of Stephen Cottrell:
Jesus does not subdue the scorpion, but loves it. For Jesus that means he has accepted God’s will, he can hold the thing that might kill him.
