Reflections on a busy life

I see the banner on this website states, 'Never stale, presented hot', yet the last update was almost a year ago. The banner is based on intention, the time since the last update on practicality. Life is full!

I have to say that I like a life that is full. It's just after midday and here's what I have already done today.

• I have read most of chapter two from 'Incarnate' by Michael Frost. I'm enjoying this book so much. He is saying that we need to be real, present for one another, not just writing blogs and commenting on Facebook (ahem!) The point is, we are made to relate and interact bodily and personally, not only through media like written words and pictures. If blogs and Facebook were my entire life I would be unbelievably poorer for it. Conversation with friends, acts of kindness and compassion, sharing food together, laughing - these are real.
• I checked that one of my blogs, Journeys of heart and mind, was running correctly on its new web address following changes I made yesterday. I made some changes to my other websites to improve the way they link to JHM.
• I spent a while on Facebook, scrolling through to see what my friends and family have been posting and replying here and there.
• I updated my diary and made some notes on some things that happened yesterday. My diary is a mix of logging how I spend my time; making notes on what I've done, where I've been and who I've met; and the thoughts I've had about this or that along the way.
• I read a chapter from the Bible (2 Samuel 2) and thought about it.
• I walked to a nearby cafe, Ambiance, to met my friend John. He didn't make it today so I drank a coffee alone, wondering what the other customers were doing and thinking. Ambiance is something of a social hub where people meet and talk animatedly with friends and family.
• A couple of other friends, Ash and Chris, dropped in and we talked briefly.
• Back home, I chatted with yet another friend, Dagmar.

That's a lot to pack into one morning. This afternoon I need to do some ironing, washing up and tidying around the house. I might get a little done in the garden too. Donna will be home from work later and I plan to meet with Jim and Kevin this evening at Kevin's home.

So it will be another full day - but for once I did manage to post an item to 'The Daily Toast'!

An anniversary or two

I've been thinking about my personal history recently. I've been digging out old diaries and photos and reviewing the vast complexity of this thing called life. I have been to so many places, met so many people, and experienced such joys and disappointments; some things have been easy, some rather hard.

Viriditas

Viriditas is a Latin word that means 'greenness'. The English equivalent is viridity.

Rapidly growing plants

Down the ages the Latin word has been used in a religious context to mean spiritual and physical health, but Kim Stanley Robinson used it in a different way in his Mars trilogy. By viriditas he meant the ability of living things to prosper and grow in rich abundance.

The plants in this pot have grown vigorously and are flowering abundantly so they are displaying considerable viriditas. Compare this post with the earlier one I posted on 9th June.

The idea of viriditas can be used to describe anything that is full of life. Flowers in the garden, trees and forests, fish in the sea, children, good ideas, successful companies, and successful churches.

So what are the underlying causes of viriditas?  Understanding that is the key to success. One important cause is organic growth, growth that feeds on its own success.

The more a child learns the more potential he or she has for further learning. Just think of the opportunities for learning that open up when a child learns to read.

The more a plant spreads this year, the more seeds there will be next year. How do you think this principle applies to a company or a church?

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

Flowers on a building

Wednesday 3rd July - Donna's Mum and Dad were with us today. We ate at 'The Pig' and then returned to our holiday home at Bailey's Hard and watched the birds on the veranda for a while. Then we walked to Beaulieu and back along the footpath, stopping at Steff's Kitchen for coffee.

Flowers in Lymington

After waving goodbye and watching her parents drive away, Donna and I drove the short distance to Lymington, bought fish and chips, and ate them near the yacht club in Milford-on-Sea.

Just before buying our fish and chips we spotted this fish restaurant in the old part of town near the harbour. It had a glorious show of flowers.

Isn't it amazing how a bunch of plants in flower can brighten up any building? Adding a bit of living material to some bricks and mortar brings the entire place to life. Suddenly it's more than a building. It's a structure supporting life in all its crazy mix of tumbling colours and fragrances.

It's the same with people, I think. Inject some real life into a person and suddenly they blossom. Smile wherever you go, laugh with people, give gifts, encourage everyone you meet, help those in trouble, listen attentively, be sympathetic. If you do these things, those around you will come alive and will blossom and flourish like plants in a well-tended window box.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

Water for life

Today I set up the automatic watering system for the tomatoes in our small greenhouse. The water trickles into each pot, providing the water the plants need to grow and produce a crop.

Watering nozzles for tomatoes

Without water, plants die. They also need light, temperatures within a certain range, and sufficient mineral nutrients.

But because I was setting up the watering system, I was thinking about their need for water more than anything else.

How long would a person live without water? Just a few days. Dehydration would set in and death would surely follow. Water is essential for life.

Jesus had a conversation about this with a woman who'd come from a village to draw water at a well. She knew how much she needed water, it was worth a journey, the weight of a heavy container, and facing the heat of the day. Jesus told her he could provide a flow of water that would rise up inside her and keep her refreshed without visiting the well. She was very keen to receive this water.

Jesus was talking about something that brings spiritual life, not just ordinary well water. What would you be prepared to do to obtain an inner source of spiritual refreshment that would never run out?

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

Life of the river

St Neots is built on the River Great Ouse with its source near Banbury and mouth at King's Lynn. As you can see from the photo, it's a wide river here in the town. The narrowboat with the man at the stern give some idea of scale (click the photo for a larger view).

A narrowboat on the River Great Ouse

Because of the River, the town has an excellent rowing club, some of the members compete at high levels of the sport.

After taking the photo this afternoon I was thinking about the life of the river. It seems to be unchanging (although the course of the river does change slowly over the centuries).

But if you follow the river from source to mouth it parallels a person's life from birth to death. The river starts off young, just a tiny brook in a deep-cut channel. It flows quickly, is active and uncontrolled.

As it matures it passes through teenage where it looks much more like a full-grown river but is still quite unpredictable and has changing moods.

In maturity it begins to wander across the landscape, full-grown, mostly placid, and able to cause serious damage if it floods out beyond its banks.

And in old age it is slow moving, set in its ways, and finally comes to the end of its course where it dissipates itself into the brackish waters of The Wash. Finally it is totally lost to view, even at low tide, and spreads itself out imperceptibly into the great North Sea.

What happens to a person when they die? Like the river they vanish from this world. Are they lost (just as the river vanishes) or do they become part of something greater (as the water of the river becomes part of the vastness of the ocean).

What do you think?

I think people become part of something infinite, not only physically but spiritually too. Visit Spiritual Journeys for more on this.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

Full of energy

Young people are so full of energy. The picture shows the son of a friend about to kick his football. He's just eight-years-old, and full of energy and a zest for life. It looks as if he's shooting for a penalty or something! He's not, he's just taking a kick for fun, but he's totally wrapped up in the moment.

Shooting for goal

Why do we lose this zest and appetite for fun as we grow older? Our young friend is utterly focussed on this kick. Click the image for a closer view, look at the expression on his face, the movement in his arms and legs, the sheer focus on the moment. He's putting everything into that kick.

Life will bring us beauty and ugliness, joy and pain, laughing and crying. Is a child immune to these feelings? No!

Children fall and cry, they joke and laugh, they play and have fun, they mourn over a dead hamster. They are not free from pain. But they go through the pain and sorrow and then move on to the next thing. I think the key is that they tend to focus on the moment. Whatever a child is doing right now is likely to be more important than what they did yesterday or may do tomorrow.

Adults tend to carry with them much anxiety about yesterday and tomorrow. They worry and fret. It can spoil the happy moments of today. It shouldn't!

Take out a ball and kick it around. Even better, do it with friends who love you. Have some fun, live in the moment, celebrate whatever you have and whatever you can do, stop grieving over the things you cannot do. Donna and I had a wonderful time kicking that ball about.

Enjoy life. Every day is a treasure and a miracle. Enjoy each one as it comes along.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

Organic growth

I've been battling the weeds in my garden. For a variety of reasons I fell way behind with this work and now I'm paying the price!

Weeds in my garden

The weeds in my garden are a wonderful example of organic growth, similar to the kind of growth I'd like to see for the church.

For a start it is spontaneous. I left this plot tidy at the end of the autumn, in March there were a few weeds, but now look at it!

In the cleared area at the front you can see a courgette plant that I just put in today. And in the background a massive array of weeds of all sorts. All I had to do to produce this massive growth of weeds was - nothing!

They all grew from tiny, insignificant seeds. Little specks of life wrapped up in hard shells, just waiting for warmth and rain and sunlight. When the conditions were right the seeds sprang into life and voila - weeds.

Not only that, each type of seed produced its own kind of weed. So if I want to see the church grow, I'm going to need an insignificant-looking seed of the right kind. Then I need to place it in the right place at the right time and it will grow, just like that. But it had better be the right seed, the right time and the right place.

What does this say to you about planting churches?

How will I know the right time and place?

Where will I find the right kind of seed?

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)