Today we had a joint men/women’s
House of Prayer. It was good fun, interesting to share with the men also –
(although a bit weird that they were there). Diane asked us to share various
moments in our lives – the best and worst thing of 2011, reasons why we were
special, and the happiest three moments in our lives. The last topic for me was
the very hardest. I have had many happy moments in my life. But perhaps the
happiest three also carry with them the deepest hurt: perhaps because the
highest moments in our lives carry the potential for us to fall the furthest.
Interestingly for today’s advent
reading – all three ‘happy’ moments are in some way connected to children:
1) Anyone who knows me at all will
know my passion and heart for the Philippines
2) When I first came to Southend I
was broken in so many ways, but there was one family that I became particularly
close to and began to spend a lot of time with. The kids treated me like a big
sister, and I loved them all as if they were my younger siblings. I enjoyed
every moment I spent with the family, and always felt like I belonged. They
welcomed me in, even at the most inconvenient times, and they helped me in too
many ways for me to count. I loved them all. Unfortunately, over the last few
years a few things have changed, and things are no longer as they once were. I
still love them all just as much as I ever have, but it has been heartbreaking
to share with them in their pain over the last few years.
3) My niece is the absolute apple of
my eye. I love her to the moon and back, and she makes me smile on the worst of
my days. Being able to share in her growing and learning has been amazing. She
is beautiful, funny and loving and growing up much too fast. (3 years old next
week!) Unfortunately the world she is growing up into is not one I would wish
on any child. I wish that I could in some way prevent her from ever finding out
about the selfishness and greed that leads to so much suffering in the world.
The look in her eyes the first time she learns about the conditions other
children have to live in will break my heart. She is so privileged to have so
much, but so many other children aren’t.
I hope you don’t mind me sharing
those. (Well, if you do you don’t have to keep reading…) It has been helpful
for me to share, without worrying about the tears in my eyes. Learn to see the
world through a child’s eyes – do not hide away from the suffering. Allow it to
sink into your soul – to break your heart as it does a child’s. But also learn
to see the innocence in the world again – the majesty. The awesomeness of God
come down to earth as a newborn baby.
DNCIC
recommendations for today:
· Receive
the Christmas story like a child.
· Take
some child-like delight in what is happening around you today.
· Be
amazed at the breath in your lungs, the pulse in your wrist, the wind in the
trees, the sun upon your face, the water in your tap, the stars in the sky and
the smiles on the faces of all the people who will look at you as if you are
mad when you kneel down in the street and give thanks for the profligate
goodness of the world that is given to us today.
· Remember
that you learned life’s really important lessons at nursery school; sit still,
share your toys and clean up after yourself. If we managed these three there
would be peace in the world!
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