A selection of photos taken during my daily dog walks over the last week or two

I am reading an awesome book by, Joshua Luke Smith. The book is called This is the Main Event and I think everyone should read it. If we fully believed what Josh says we could all get on with being rather than climbing some deceiver’s ladder to some imagined success.

The first section of the book is about Lamenting. We’ve all got sadnesss and griefs that we need to give to God, to be healed of, to see where the great Creator was in them, to accept them as they were/are. You can find a few of mine dotted through this site and my older one site that I no longer post on.

But at the moment my life is ok. I’ve got enough. More than enough. And, on the whole I get to potter about and enjoy things. I live in a safe part of the world and even the Welsh wild fires have been far enough away that I might have smelt them but could ignore them.

As I was reading through the Lamentations part of Joshua’s book, and was reading a reworking of the Beatitudes by Red Letter Christians, I got to wondering what are the blessings for those of us who at the moment are doing ok. And here’s what I got

Blessed are those who are doing ok!

Blessed are you when you’ve reached the point where you’ve got enough money that if the fridge breaks you can buy a new one without it impacting your daily spending, when you realise you can be generous to others without fear, where you are safe in your generosity, that you are no longer giving in the hope God will bless you financially or in trying to prove a point that you WILL give your ten percent because the Bible says so.

Blessed are you when your health and that of your family is ok and you aren’t building your life round tests and hospital appointments, and even your elderly parents are just dealing with minor age-related issues, where you can see ok, hear ok, and are able to enjoy walks, fresh air, sunrises and sunsets.

Blessed are you when your life is calm, peaceful and you realise it is all that it should be, where you can live in a place of low crime, can feel safe and don’t have to be looking over your shoulder, when you no longer worry about “what ifs” or have to fight the demons within, where you can live the life you want because you’ve made peace with your past.

Blessed are you when good things happen to you, when others want to sit with you because you radiate peace and calm, when you can enjoy ice cream and good food, when you have enough that being hospitable isn’t stretching.

Blessed are you when your relationships are enriching, when you can share thoughts and ideas, “chew the fat” without fear, when you disagree, still be friends and have no fears of being reported to the authorities, when the worst your spouse does is not stack the washing up or make the bed as you believe is the correct way to do it or doesn’t laugh at the joke you’d worked so hard to share, and at least 50% of your children think you’re alright.

Don’t look over your shoulder at what was or peer into what should be or strain to see what might be coming in the future, or feel you’re special or that you are less than you should be because things are ok.

Enjoy the moment. Live within this season and let it flow to those who are placed along your path

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And to finish two contented dogs in the sun from a week or so back. Although this morning they weren’t so happy because it was hammering it down with rain but until they can use the toilet inside they do need to go out!!! 🙂

There is Enough

Renly 12 years ago. He would only have been 5 months old. Photographed by myself April 2012

Renly, my little dog, has not been well the past few days. He had a bad stomach and didn’t eat much, had diarrhea, and had to sleep in the dining room because I was exhausted by taking him out in the night many times and decided it was better to clear the dining room floor and get some sleep. He seems to have slowed down with his illness. He is over 12 which actually puts him a similar age to me this year!!! But it got me thinking about his mortality and that thing about pets not living forever.

I’ve also been doing some journaling around questions from Speaking into the Chaos, a Josh Luke Smith course that I would highly recommend. From that came this

For the question “what one wound of humanity’s heart I would heal” I wrote –

“the one wound I would heal in humanity’s heart is the fear of not having enough – enough time/money/friends/health/food/space/resources. I believe if we believe we have enough then we actually appreciate, treasure and are generous with what we have rather than squander or horde it as we do now. We squander and horde in equal measure because we are afraid there is not enough. Fear makes us consume more than we need. Once humanity can truly believe there is enough to go round then there will be no need to horde, squander or fear others will take it, take what we do not need. There will be no need to fight for it or over it.”

Then Friday afternoon I read The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom. which challenges thoughts about measuring time, worrying about time, trying to control time, not wasting time, etc. One of the characters wants to live forever, another wants not live any more and the main protagonist wanted to measure time. I want to give you this quote though from near the end

“Do you understand now?” he asked [Dor speaking to Victor who wanted to live forever] “With endless time, nothing is special. With no loss or sacrifice, we can’t appreciate what we have.”

p 218 The Time Keeper

I think these thoughts sit together and are something that I pondered in yesterday’s blog, and which, I think, Jesus’s followers on that first Pentecost were healed of. They didn’t need to control time, to worry that there wasn’t enough time or enough resources. They were at peace with what they had or maybe held each other accountable, reminding each other that there was enough.

And it that knowing there was “enough” time, money, resources, food, friends, space, etc that meant they could go off across the world taking what they knew of Jesus freely and without control to other nations. That let them be able to morph and adapt what they knew of Jesus not into a religion but into a way of life. They had no fear of there not being enough or of having to control things. They were free. And that freedom meant they were able to die wherever and whenever the Spirit led them

Sometimes I think we encourage each other to be afraid that there isn’t enough time, money, space, food, friends, etc, etc. Our accountability isn’t to be free of that fear but to make sure we do lots and keep busy because … well because God might catch us just hanging out and being!!!

We need to find that freedom of encouraging each other to accept and believe there is “enough”and that we do “enough”, to remind each other we are loved unconditionally and that all of life is special.

This is the Main Event