How rich are you?

Our pastor spoke about this website on Sunday. Very interesting. You plug in how much you earn (you may need to do some conversions to $US) and it tells you where you are in relation to the world's population.

Here is the link: www.globalrichlist.com

Makes you think doesn't it? We are so obsessed with how much money we need to pay the mortgage, buy food, pay the bills, dress ourselves and our kids etc. But when you start to think about how little people elsewhere survive on, it changes your focus from being one of how do we make our money last longer to how can we help someone else?

We have begun to rethink how we are helping others.  Some places we are looking are:

Compassion International - child sponsorship

Hagar International - freeing children from the sex trade abroad

Oxfam International - why not buy a family a goat?

Scripture Union - bringing Jesus into schools

Are we doing enough to make the world a better place?

Brain Pop: Perfect (or Perfection Part 3)

I wrote this next post a little while ago. I got distracted by the other 'Perfection' posts and didn't get back around to posting it. It is amazing how God teaches groups of people the same things at the same time and this whole 'Perfection' thing is just one example.


In a final response to the earlier posts, I have to say that the blogger did miss the point a bit....  I am hoping that this post can tie up some loose ends for my train of thought on this issue.....  


So... several weeks ago I wrote.....


It has been a pretty strange couple of weeks around the traps of my personal life lately. I have been to the funeral of someone who committed suicide, I have stumbled upon a friend's nasty addiction, a family member is in a really unhappy place and a good friend has been dealt a personal blow of her own. On top of that my whole family has come down ill with various things requiring a myriad of medications and lots of visits to our local medical centre. It has been a crazy time.


But, God has chosen now to draw me in. Or, I have decided that now is the time I near to draw near to him. Or, perhaps this has been happening for a while and I needed some sadness to remind me of God's goodness.


I don't think I am a very good Christian. I get by on my own most of the time. I know I don't pray enough and I certainly don't read my bible enough. I love God and I know he loves me and I would definitely consider myself 'saved', but there has always felt as if something is missing, like some kind of connection just isn't there. I thought it was that God was hard to find, but I am realising that it is actually more along the lines of me not tuning my 'God Radio' into the right station.


Some things have been crossing my mind through music and reading lately that have made things in my brain pop. Literally, popped, thoughts that have picked up a track that lies in my brain and pops it right onto a new track so that a new train of thought can begin. It is cool.


One 'Brain Pop' has been about being perfect. I personally don't struggle with being perfect, I can live with a bit of mess, I think being a bit dishevelled keeps me real. But God is perfect. He doesn't make mistakes. He doesn't allow things to happen without a reason. He does things for our good. He is ever the same day after day, year after year, decade after decade. The God who David in the bible worshipped, is the same one I can worship. I have always thought these kinds of ideas were just fundamental bible knowledge things, but I am beginning to realise that they can actually be more.


Being perfect is impossible for humans. Oh, we can practice and try and try and try, but in the end, we are unable to do it on our own. But this is actually a quality of God. He just is - perfect. And this is where my brain popped - God's perfection is actually worthy of praise.


With my shopping list way of praying, or the good old fashioned 'ACTS' way of praying, it can be hard to miss praising God for his qualities, not just the amazing amounts of blessings he dumps into our lives. Being perfect sets God apart from me as a human and helps me to see that I need Him in my life. Being perfect and not making mistakes allows me to see that God is in control more than I will ever be and that if I lock into what he wants for me, things will be okay.


Through exposure to lots of imperfections in life like: suicide, addictions, betrayal, anger, jealousy, abuse and general human nastiness, I have found that God is perfect. God is so sustainable, he uses every scrap of human emotion to teach me things! At a time when ordinarily I would be under the covers eating whipped cream and not bathing due to the 'tragedy' of things I have dealt with in the past few weeks, I find myself up bright and early just needing to write down the reasons why God being perfect is so worthy of praise - what a mind blowing thing.


Just to be a bit of a spiritual geek - I found an online Bible Concordance and typed in 'Perfect' and found a great verse - it is a nice way to finish off this mini sermon...

Deuteronomy 32

The Song

 ^1-5 Listen, Heavens, I have something to tell you. Attention, Earth, I've got a mouth full of words. My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain,
      my words arrive like morning dew,
   Like a sprinkling rain on new grass,
      like spring showers on the garden.
   For it's  God's Name I'm preaching—
      respond to the greatness of our God!
    The Rock: His works are perfect, 
      and the way he works is fair and just; 
   A God you can depend upon, no exceptions, 
      a straight-arrow God. 
   His messed-up, mixed-up children, his non-children,
      throw mud at him but none of it sticks.


Thus sayeth B.


PS - 'Brain Pops' will feature in coming posts - seems that my brain is a poppin' place to be!

Perfection Part 2

This is the follow up to the 'Perfection' Post from the other day....


The Cure for Perfection...




And this is the response I put up on the blog site....

My biggest struggle is to not lose myself in the pressure the world puts on me as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, teacher and individual. Although, I do put a lot of pressure on myself as well.  I struggle with depression, and have done both before I have had children and after, it is not a great journey to be on but it is one a have to walk every day.


What I would say to the 'old me' would be, "You are actually fine. You are doing really well.  Get outside, go meet some people, enjoy those moments of sunshine and light. Allow yourself some time to just be happy - being happy is the best gift you can give to yourself and others. Allow time for your soul to soar and be adventurous, there is so much life out there to see and do."


I know this is not meant to be about a religion - but I have found that having a belief in God has trawled me out of some dark and dusty places. Through learning about God I have learnt more about myself - most of what I learnt wasn't good - but through realising that my life has a plan and a purpose has inspired me to keep going and to try to reach my potential.


The Perfection Article hit me right where I am at. I want to be slim and beautiful with great skin and no cellulite, but unless I sell my house to pay for these improvements, I have to work with what I have got. And what I have got is;  a God who loves me, a husband who adores me and treats me like a queen, gorgeous children who are full of life and laughter, a family who support all my cooky endeavours and allow me just be me, fabulous friends who have walked through life with me and shared their light and love and a great home where I am free to express myself and be at peace. I wouldn't swap these things to look good in a bikini. 


I have not been raped, molested, bullied, teased, belittled, abused, neglected or hurt by anyone I love. I have lead a pretty charmed life. Then why is that I have struggled with depression and obesity? Because I did not know who I was, I did not know how strong I was, I did not see that I could help myself let alone anyone else. I did not see that life is a test, a challenge, an opportunity to grow. 


It was never promised that life would be easy - lucky - because it is not. It was never promised that we would be happy - lucky because sometimes we are not - this is a choice - one we have to make dozens of times a day.






Be warned... There will be a Part 3 to this....

Perfection

This is something I stumbled upon through a friend of a friend's blog. It is worth reading right through to the end. You may need tissues. Well worth it though.

Powerful huh? Anyone spot anything missing?

There is a follow up post to this that I am currently processing - it requires some reflection. Stay tuned.

Quote - Pam Farrell

When you live your life accidently, just meandering along, don’t be surprised if your life becomes an accident.

Pam Farrell from: ‘The 10 Best Decisions a Woman Can Make’

Song Review - Steer

Watch the youtube.com film clip here


Read the Lyrics....


Steer
Feel it falling off like clothing

taste it rolling off your tongue

see the lights above you glowing

Oh and breathe them deep into your lungs

It was always simple, not hidden hard

You’ve been pulling at the strings playing puppeteer for kings

And you’ve had enough

But the search ends here

Where the night is totally clear

And your heart is fierce

So you know finally that you control where you go

You can steer

So hold this feeling like a new born

Of freedom surging through your veins

You have opened up a new door

So bring on the wind, fire and rain

It was always simple, not hidden hard

You’ve been played at a game called remembering your name

And you’ve stuffed it up

But the search ends here

Where the night is totally clear

And your heart is fierce

So you finally know that you control where you go

You can steer

‘Cos you’ve been listening for answers

But the city screams and all your dreams go unheard

But the search ends here

Where the night is totally clear

And your heart is fierce

So you finally know that you control where you go

You can steer

Yeah get out of the box and step into the clear

‘Cos now you finally know that you can steer

Why I love it?

At the beginning of the youtube clip (link above), Missy briefly explains why she wrote this song.  But, I believe that one story can mean different things to lots of different people, so this reflection is what I have learnt from this song....

Firstly, only an Aussie would use the phrase, ‘Stuff it up’ in a song and where thongs.  I love that about Aussie music.

This song came out in 2007 when my extended family was going through a bit of crisis. It wasn’t an easy time and both my husband and I were feeling that we had some choices to make about our future and our little family. So this song was really inspiring.

Although the gyst of the song may seem a bit humanistic, in that it outlines that we can ‘steer’ our own path, I can see that this is how God works with me. Over the years, there have been many times when BF#1 and I, have been faced with a major decision like; which car to buy, how long to stay overseas and where to live.  These are big questions in our human lives, but when BF#1 and I have prayed about them, the answer we have been given time and time again is, “You decide.” We really believe that God has blessed us with intelligence and that we are in the zone of his favour and that these decisions are not going to change that.

There have also been times when God has specifically laid on our hearts the specifics of what we are meant to do - and these are times when we don’t have to decide on things, we are steered by God. But, this too is a choice, as we all have choice about everything. Unfortunately, there have been times when we have ignored this steering from God and have tried to forge our own path, only to come across the same forks in the road over and over.

Moral of the story: If we align ourselves with God - He will steer us in the direction he knows is best for us. Thank goodness that he has a plan for us, because most of the time, I have no idea where I am going and threaten to 'stuff it up' if I work on my own.


This also comes back to a notion that faith is linked with a weakness. I am learning more and more that to have faith is not actually the easy option, it is a day to day choice and an aligning of thoughts to a force way beyond comprehension. By letting go of the steering wheel and letting God do the driving seems so brave and adventurous. Giving away some of our control and our desire to 'steer' can actually open up a world of new possibilities for us.  Something to ponder.

Sunday Mornings 2

I am not very good at church. I mean, I am quite well behaved when I am there, I am just not good at the whole getting ready and then being ready to listen thing...  I am hoping I am not alone or I am going to look like a right numpty.  If you really want to know what I am like on Sunday mornings click here.

At cell group the other night - by the by, I do love calling our group ‘cell’ group - it has a rough gangster type feel about it - like we all had cells on H block and can share stories of communal showering - but I digress. I shared a bit about how I just can’t seem to get us all ready on time on Sundays and how stressed I was feeling about it. I have gotten to the point where I am thinking of abandoning church to eliminate some stress from my life. 


Then I decided I should probably pray about and not just make decisions like that willy-nilly.  So I did, and I thought God would find it preferable to have me spend the hours of 9am-11am on a Sunday in quiet reflection on the back deck sipping tea and talking to my children about why Samaritans were seen as bad. But no, I found myself feeling really sad about the way I have been treating Sunday mornings. They have not been a time of preparation to hear from God or to spend time with his peeps. I had turned Sunday morning into a stress filled, frustrating and sometimes teary time of a parent behaving badly. So a new solution came to me.

Now, you must understand, I don’t want to come across as some nutter who claims to ‘hear’ from God about which type of bread to buy or which shoes will help me to fulfil God’s purposes for me. But, I have been in churches and around God enough to know that the still quiet voice that pushes us into a new line of thinking, is God. 

So, this new solution. Instead of me trying to get as much sleep as humanly possible on Sunday mornings and staying in bed as long as I can get away with, the solution is, to get up earlier. Can you believe it? That had to be from God, there is no way I would think of that on my own. So, this week I tried it. I set my alarm for 6am. I was going to give it a burl. And, God being a God who knows my inner workings, had me awake 10 minutes before the alarm. So I got up. 

I had a great morning. I made a lovely date slice for morning tea, I did some dishes and I got my heart ready for the morning rush. I was able to allow my brain to wander around the ridges for a while instead of harnessing it and trying to get it to go faster than it wanted to. My eldest daughter got up and we had the loveliest time together, we hugged a lot, giggled a lot, she kept me company while I shaved me legs (lucky little thing) and we chatted. At a reasonable hour we made coffee for daddy and laid out the breakfast things. Daddy, who was able to sleep in, was woken by freshly brewed coffee and a calm wife and bubbly five year old.

We were all in the car nice and early and, here I would love to say we had ‘No Tantrums’, but alas, we have a two year old princess diva, who did not like something or other and ruined our near perfect record. We arrived at church all in a calm and orderly fashion. It was a great success and this will be repeated. I am hoping that I can go for a walk to my favourite mountain top vantage point (want to say ‘look out’ but that sounds a bit seedy) and spend some time praying love over the valleys.

Thanks God for not giving up on me, 

thanks for always waiting for me,

thanks for the reminders that seem hard but are actually easy,

thanks for my beautiful family who I spent time with this morning,

thanks for the good things you pile into my life.  

Amen.