God of the little things

I've had a desire to seek out the signs of God in the normal, non-religious, everyday things of life for a while now since hearing someone talk about 'ordinary grace'and realising that if we aren't attending and noticing we are denying ourselves those brushes with heaven that warm the heart. And the things that remind us that God is indeed Immanuel, with us, beyond that spell of human form and in a way that connects with our longings to see, and to be seen and understood.

I have started reading Soul Grafitti; making a life in the way of Jesus by Mark Scandrette. He touches on this idea...

"Most people will never see the artwork that hangs on gallery walls unless the galleries are sidewalks, fences,and telephone poles. An artist I met named Dave hangs hundreds of brightly coloured paintings throughout the city, bringing smiles to the faces of people as they walk to the store or subway. Stenciled on the sidewalk at my feet I see proclamations left by neighbours: "Your existence gives me hope", "sluts against rape","stop oil wars": or from a now deceased friend, simply the word "Grace" written in flowing cursive letters. One artist even fills in the gaps in the concrete with rows of glass jewels. In our heavily pedestrian neighbourhood, we have learned to look for messages scrawled in chalk or stuck in the cracks of the sidewalks and to find beauty in small or hidden places...I like to think that the message and method of Jesus was a lot like graffiti - immediate, street level, and personal. Jesus spoke as one who knew the struggles and joy of the people in his region. He spoke in words that connect with their longings...

Hence my photo...stopping to refill my water bottle from a stand-pipe at Soul Survivor I noticed the tap was ringed with rainbow coloured bands, pretty in it's own right but redolent with the mischief and joy of a major water bomb attack! Wish it had come out clearer but not bad for my phone.

Houseguest

This one thinks nothing of pooing in the garden and jumping on the beds! But she's very cute and so you can let her off - almost!

We're spending our holiday looking after Shula for a afriend, she's been with us less than 24 hours and already we're dreading giving her back. Even after she tried to redesign my prairie-style planting!!!

What's that they say about man's best friend?!

Defy the Stars

One of Mrs Admins amazing photo's of camp and I'm just itching to see the rest!

Indeed we had the best time on camp this year, awesome games, inspirational sessions, great food and brilliant community life, all incredible and even more so that for the first time I'm not completely wiped out after the event.

It's hard to pick out highlights but if pushed the laser quest in the woods was awesome, afternoon art was so chilled and really nice, getting to be there whilst several of the guys wrestled with who they are and where their going in their identities and beliefs was a real honour too.

God did loads of talking to us about being loved 'just as we are' (to paraphrase Mark Darcy!)and hearing this group of 30 plus non church kids singing their hearts out in worship each night just reduced me to tears on a routine basis. Ephesians 4:6 I guess.

One of my best moments was when I interviewed one of the girls I've known for 3 years about how she's changed and who she's becoming. We first met as she was coming out of a cupboard in the mentors hut having gotten changed in there ready for PE! She didn't use the changing rooms because the girls put a shaving foam moustache on her and threw her shoes in the shower. She earned herself the nick-name 'Psycho' because she would literally go crazy and get violent when the kids wound her up, then other times she wouldn't say boo to a goose. Three years and three LCET camps later, plus group-works and an excellent mentor, she came up in front of us all and shared her story...laughing at our unique meeting and feeling confident and accepting about the person she was.

The previous night we had cried together about how it was sometimes really hard to let the past go and to let ourselves move on to a better place and it was such a privilage to be able to describe to her the beautiful young lady that I'd witnessed blossom before me and to be there when she started to recognise that in herslef....well, I do this job for moments like that and count myself really blessed because of it.

Then getting to tell her atounded Mum what she'd done ...icing on the cake, nearly cried all over again!!

Been away...

but before a proper update, just how scary is that photo of Mr Flower in the garden?! Not because it bears a resemblance to David Tennant - so people have told us - but because one squiz at the contents of the table (weekend paper, cafetier, cups and saucers and chocolates - ambassador)and it is 100% clear the transformation into our parents is almost complete!!

Obviously it would be a great destination to end up like them but just not yet eh!?

Feel the need to go get a tattoo or something to prove I'm still young! ;-)

Summertime

And the livin' is easy...da, dooo, da-da...

Yes there has been a rare moment of summer in this corner of the British Isles today, and behold yesterday for that matter too. Mr Flower and I have so far spent any warm weather we've had bemoaning the fact that we should have bought a garden table that we fell in love with last year and couldn't find anything like it this year.

Until now because having searched far and wide from the comfort of our own living room and yielded nothing on the net we decided to press our luck and try instore! And would you believe it but the longed for garden set was there large as life, belying any internet absence AND with 30% off!!

Deep joy we snaffled it up at once and two trips to the land of the concrete cows and back and it was the piece d'resistance dans la jardin (apologies if I got my genders confused there Quinladen!).

We had an inaugural bbq feast of turkey korma kebabs, potato and chive salad, beetroot and leaves with garlic doughballs. V.tasty and now at 20:41 I am sat at my new table wirelessly recording my joy.

Life is amazing (and these are only a few minor reasons that is so!).

Busy Lizzie

Busy Lizzie
Originally uploaded by Pete Biggs

I can't believe I haven't had time to blog since 20 June...crazy business!
Just when we've been flat out in fifth gear it seems life has uncovered a sixth gear and up we go a notch again!

Summer camp is really top of the agenda at the moment and has snuck up on us it's fair to say. We decided we wanted a more laid back approach to it this year and unfortunately that seems to have slipped to horizontal and we're now all jumping to attention and trying to figure how the dickens we get done all that we need to in the next two weeks. There's also the dawning realisation that having less leaders this year means lots more work for those of us who are there.

Plus we've gone for the slightly mad experiment of true community living with no 'grown ups only' lounge in which to hide and let off a few "I've had enough of young people" expletives. No we are going to try and manage our exhaustion and bad moods as teaching points...praying for masses of grace right now!!

Other stuff that's been going on...We've been away on retreat where the Bishop of Bedford came to impart his wisdom and where we had some great community time out. I went off up to London for some Moving into Management training that was really good. Am off up to London again with some year 9 students on Monday for a trip to the Sherlock Holmes museum. It's school prom on 17th which is exciting - my first ever! And just generally trying to tie things up in school ahead of the summer and in one case ending my time there, which is really sad.

Supermarket sweep!

So you know I'm a big fan of the Mighty 'W'and here indeed is justification! The latest Ethical Company Organisation research results into supermarkets are out...

"Our researchers examined the real ethicality of each of the supermarkets in detail across 12 ethical criteria - including animal welfare, human rights and environmental impact. There was MASSIVE variation in standards, with our Ethical Company Index scores ranging from 85 to just 38.

The highest overall ethical scores go to Sainsburys, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose. The lowest ethical scores went to Tesco, Asda and Iceland.

Sainsburys are also very highly commended for being the only supermarket to have so far signed up for full Ethical Accreditation -thereby guaranteeing an extra level of 3rd party audit (above and beyond the world of company-scribed CSR reports and smooth advertising copy!)"


Yes I know Waitrose and it's fellows are expensive and we are in the privileged position of only needing to feed ourselves and not a family but we choose to shop cheap. That means only buying meat once a week, if that, and get into being exceptionally thrifty with our good ingredients and bulking stuff out with beans and pulses. It's something my Mum did when we were kids and our Grandparents were great at but I think it's skills we've more or less lost.

End of soap box session and hoorah for the ethical leaders...that said Gingerkid pointed out all the supermarkets are more ethical probably than they were three years ago generally ...maybe they are so I guess we could be moving in the right direct!?

New Toy

Tee hee, we're getting a new toy!

We should pick it up on Saturday if all goes well and I'm praying our current Skoda hangs in there. The rattles are getting louder as the days go by and I'm just waiting for the exhaust to fall off, and the dashboard is like Blackpool illuminations with all the warning lights that are on!!

Looking forward to some 'driving on the edge' of a less concerning kind over the weekend.

Friday night's not right...

...without Ugly Betty!

It's only thursday and already I'm mourning the loss of my fav tv show of late. It's made up one of only three programmes that Mr Flower and I watch, the other two being Grand Designs and Top Gear and now we are bereft of all three.

We have been tempted to Springwatch but although the characterisation is occasionally amusing, the script is not nearly so side splitting as the laugh-one-minute-cry-the next-sitcom. (And the tragedy rating is higher!).

Oh well time for another book me thinks.

Sob!

We've just sold Precious to a nice geezer with a man-bag from Hampshire. Life won't be the same without her. No more push starts at 6:30 in the morning, AA calls, rattles-bumps-squeeks when travelling. No more cruising with the wind messing up your hair or the sun burning your skin.

But I will really miss her, there's something amazing about smelling the flowers in the fields as you fly along shoulder to shoulder with them, the sky bright above you, hearing the bird song all around.

She's been a great introduction to fun cars and something to tell the grandchildren and maybe we'll get her back again one day!

Long live precious, be happy. (Gotta stop now need to go find a tissue)

Loved up!

So Mr Flower and I celebrated our 5th anniversary at the weekend (a little ahead of time it's not till mid June but we're busy then!).

I'd love to say something profound and maybe that's for another time (oi, stranger things have happened) but I will just say it was bliss. (yes it's an old photo we were married in the pre-every-guest-is-the-photographer-digital era so no wedding snaps!)

A perfect sunny weekend, at a perfect hotel (Strattons in Swaffham), perfect company and perfectly smug - thank you very much!

Treasure!

Just found a fab new blog, well online book and magazine actually!

www.porpoisedivinglife.com it takes over where Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life left off - at day 40 - and is neither an endorsement nor annihilation of the said publication.

It's one man's attempts to 'get God off his back' that kind of back fired and led to him discovering amazing stuff about 'the God of more' as he describes him.

I would not want to be this guy for all the tea in China, his experiences are horrific, his insights raw but inspired. He has amazing guts and what's more he's shared it all free on-line when he probably could have followed in Warren's shoes.

I don't agree with it all but his honesty is compelling and it's one I'm gonna read and watch.

I found this quote there ..."I am convinced the great tragedy is not the sins that we commit, but the life we fail to live." Erwin Raphael McManus.

Something to toy with as we plan a series on living life to the full for our penultimate Sanctuary session for the year!!

There's three of us in this relationship!

Mr Flower and I had an unexpected date this evening!

I got a call at 7:15 ish to say he was back at the station but couldn’t come home as the car door wouldn’t shut!!

It seemed to be a direct protest by Precious (term of endearment – honestly- for our beautiful if temperamental Lotus) in response to the ‘For Sale’ ad going up on the internet and there was nothing left to do but phone the AA.

So I gathered together some yoghurt and granola and a Ribena and drove off to the refreshment of my weary commuter. After the rain stopped (a sudden downpour timed to correspond with my searching the open car air park for Mr F minus umbrella) it was a wonderfully light early summers evening and we conversed pleasantly till a call from Jim the AA man, who was five minutes away.

We actually talked and listened far more attentively than if we’d been at home and although it wasn’t exactly picturesque it was strangely enjoyable, being out on a school night.

It made me think about the challenge of seeing every moment as a gift from God if only we choose to live it with such intension, much happier than seeing it as a darned inconvenience at the end of an already stressful day…and although it’s often easier said than done I think we actually made it this time.

Book worm

Just read a brilliant book…The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. A kind of ‘Spooks meets Harry Potter’ as LiteraTec SpecOps track down evil villains who kidnap literary characters thus rewriting works of classic fiction. It’s ridiculously fast paced and I tonked through it in one (very rainy bank holiday) day.

The characters are gripping, and there are some hysterically audacious names. Thursday Next is our heroine and she goes seeking Archeron Hades, the devilish arch-protagonist. But the tale is packed with villains aplenty, in an almost comic strip stylee. Jack Schitt is one such nasty, he’s from the Goliath Corporation (who seem to own the world) and funnily enough it’s never really clear what exactly he does for them! The second plot line is a will-they-won’t-they story of Thursday’s and her ex-lover Landen Park-Lane. With commentary throughout by Millon De Floss – I kid you not, it’s so bad it’s GREAT!

One highlight for me was when Archeron questions one of his minions about his act of evil for that day…he says he ‘drove at 78 mph’ to which Archeron retorts that’s barely even wicked…then he replies ‘though the Arndale centre’! A literary reference for Luton? Probably not as it’s set in Swindon and the name’s common for shopping centres but it made me laugh.

If you want a ripping yarn of fantastical proportions this will be it! It has to be read to be believed and I can’t even begin to offer it a fair representation here just go forth and purchase…or wait and borrow my copy after Miss LotsOBooks!

This week we're mostly eating...

Hairdressers biscuits!

And they're delicious with either tea or coffee, let me tell you and so much nicer without hair!!

Very excited to find them in the mighty W, as supermarkets don't usually seem to stock them and with all this rain one needs tea and biccy's(sp?) to keep ones spirits up.

Pentecost Resonance

"...I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you".

I was talking in my last post about feeling a heavenly disconnect on tuesday and not really knowing why except that I was wrestling with how my faith translates in different circumstances...like a Vogue party!

Being surrounded by such beauty and brilliance both at Chelsea, then at the Haywood and Skylon I was so mindful of the creator amongst his creation but yet it felt as if he was outside of it, without not within, kind of looking on like one of Gormley's men.

That was not to judge anyone, or to take away from anything and anyway a lot of this I'm sure was suffuced by faith but it was just a feeling of seperation for me that I couldn't (and still can't really) define. I guess a lot of it came from a number of conversations I had that left me really aware of the emptiness, hurt and longing in so many peoples lives.

Anyway, this morning in church the passage from John was read and seemed to take me back to this and make a connection.

W.O.W

Or Wierdest of Weeks. It's been an oxymoronic week to say the least and one it'll take me sometime to process.

I was leading worship on Monday and we were thinking about Pentecost and the difference it makes knowing God is with us through everything...this thought kind of ran all week for me, although there was a heavenly disconnect that I'm still trying to figure.

Monday night saw us off to the royal gala opening of Chelsea Flower Show as guests of Lauren Perrier and to dinner at the Dorchester no less. Their garden was stunning and designer Jinny Blom loved my thoughts about it!!



Then after not enough sleep and far too much champagne back to work in Luton and as many 1-2-1's as I could cram with Young People before heading back to London and to the Anthony Gormley exhibition at the Hayward Gallery and a Vogue party at Skylon the new restaurant at the refurbished Royal Festival Hall.



It's strange that Johnny Baker (his pic of man and wheel) slugs this "exhibit entertaining angels" on his flickr pages because to me the 31 life size figures feel really menacing as they look over London and move ever closer to the gallery.

Blind light was just brilliantly disconcerting...we thought we only went in little way and when I panicked and wanted to get out we retraced our steps (or so we thought)but ended up in the corner of the box hemmed in. To me it was like the visual equivalent of silence...mental and you got bizarely wet from the fog especially your nostril hairs, not exactly glamorous but hey!



We were joined by Thandie Newton (Crash and ER) in there the metal sculptures room (don't think that's the technical term but it was one of just 4 other amazing displays)and dinner star spotting included Anthony Gormley himself, who came for a chat at our table!! Lily Cole the supermodel, Alan Rickman, Terrance Conran, Antonio Carluccio, George Alagiah amongst others and to be honest the only one's I recognised!! But good old George did bid us good night as we left!!

Now I'm back to listen to some wisdom from some veteran youth workers from the US which will be really exciting...then it's off to school for the year 11 leavers assembly can't believe some of my little chicks are flying the nest.

Good job it's a bank holiday I need some sleep to recover from all of this.

Splish, splash they were taking a bath...

I am one of, if not THE, happiest sister in the world today!

I have AMAZING siblings, blood, step, half, in-law, you name it I've got 'em and it makes me sooooooo glad! Especially after witnessing a really happy event in the lives of the younger one's yesterday.

Flowers 2 and 3 got baptised. It was a really moving service where they all spoke so eloquently about their journey of faith, with no.3 even singing like a little angel (and joined with Wicked, who has done an amazing job of rearing these beauties along with DaddyF!).

It was such an overwhelming day...both my StepGran and Nan were there to witness it and yet again I was reminded of how powerful and important our family (genetic or chosen) are.

It was also such and incredible honour to be there with three generations who are loving and living for God...even if it doesn't always seem like we're doing such a good job (refering to myself you understand!), He's moving us on teaching and loving us into new creations. Made me realise how important my prayers are for future generations and how grateful I am for all those said by my parents, relatives and grandparents (esp my other Nan who longed so much for us all).

As the 6 young people were dipped last night we sang Amazing Grace...and you know it really is! Off to have a really good sob now!

Happiness can be bought!!

OK so although I was suffering a bout of melancholy the joy was still bubbling away under the surface. But it was helped severely by an exciting parcel that plopped through the post two days after my last post!

Happiness tea...it comes complete with brewing instructions which include "dance like you haven't danced since you were five" and "have a slice of cholcolate cake"..it's also extremely cute packaging with it's little metal tag that says "fun". And what's more it offers wisdom about 'being still' and 'just being'...AND it's organic!

This product is GENIUS!

Although I haven't actually tasted it yet!! Tee hee!! Or is that tea hee?!

Wilting

Bit of a sad little-flower today...lots of stuff seems to be 'happening to' me at the moment as opposed to me being in control and it's really hard to sense a way through it all and what meaning, if any, it has. The cumulative effect is that I'm drooping.

But I've been listening a lot to the new Jars of Clay CD, which although not as good as "Who we are instead" or the hymn one is really growing on me. They write such amazing lyrics and I'm clinging on to one song at the moment; 'There is a river', especially like the imagery of the second verse, lyrics of which below.

And as soon as I figure how I might add one of the others as an MP3, to further enhance your little-flower experience!!

There is a river that washes you clean
There is a tree that marks the places you have been
Blood that was spilled, although not your own
For all of your tears are the wages for things you have done

And all of those nights
Spent alone in the darkness of your mind
Give it up, let go
These are the things you were never meant to shoulder

There is a river that washes you clean
There is a tree that marks the places you have been
Blood that was spilled, although not your own
For all of your tears love will atone

So give up the right
To control the waves that empty out your life
Above wild skies
Are the rays that break the shadows we design

Give it up, let go
These are things you were never meant to shoulder
Give it up, let go

There is a river that washes you clean
There is a tree that marks the places you have been
Blood that was spilled, although not your own
For all of these things love will atone

I know the world can turn in different ways
Most of the time we're simply hanging on
And under the signs of how we all behave
We might find the place that we belong

For all those nights when you cried all alone
All of your tears, love will atone