Holidays

This morning I'm thankful for...

- The Belfast-Dublin motorway. It's been so improved over the last few years that it's so quick to journey between the two cities. So easy to move between them and makes feeling like having home in both places a little more manageable...!

- Great family time over the last week. Lovely to be at home with the added bonus of Gemma and Harry around. Over too soon! 

- The weekend camp Anois which I'm about to get on a bus to take me to Kilkenny for. I'm hoping I'm still thankful for it in 72 hours time...

Frozen Planet

A new series has started on the BBC, following in the footsteps of David Attenborough's previous offerings, he now turns his cameras to the coldest areas of the globe in "Frozen Planet".

Stunning visuals once again combined with the dulcid tones of Attenborough to form the first hour long programme that went out on Wednesday night. Combine it with HD and it's a treat for the eyes.

I was struck by the beauty of the planet that we live on. The incredible thing about these documentaries is that often they are showing landscapes and environments rarely seen by human eyes or captured on camera.

One can look at the stunning beauty of the world unfolded by Attenborough and his team and appreciate it for that, simple beauty. But add a creator into the mix and it takes on a whole new dimension. The hand of a God who sculpts the icebergs and directs the ocean currents, who tames the animals in their wild ways and sets the laws of physics on their path to create and guide the natural wonders on display.

There is a verse in the Bible that talks about how if we as humanity fail in our role at worshipping God then "the rocks will cry out" declaring the wonder and awe of the creator God. 

Well if the Frozen Planet is anything to go by the Earth is doing a pretty good job of proclaiming the glory of a creator God. 

Perhaps we need to up our game.

Raindrops on Running Shoes

These are a few of my thankful things....

- A return to assignments! I recently started a part time leadership course and sat down yesterday afternoon to put together my first assignment, a book review. Haven't written anything like that for a few years, and it was good to sit down at a computer and think for a bit.

- Afternoon naps following assignments...

- Running in torrential rain. It may gain a few odd looks from people driving by warm and cosy in their cars, but running in the driving rain is the best. So refreshing.

- Finishing a good book. I'm a bit of a John Grisham junkie, and I just finished his most recent offering "The Confession". I sped through it. Highly recommended and definitely some food for thought given the subject matter.

Citizenship

I had the great privilege yesterday of attending the ceremony for UK citizenship in Hillsborough Castle yesterday morning. One of my greatest friends Lidia was receiving her citizenship and I was thrilled to be asked to be a witness to the ceremony. Lidia has been a great friend and blessing to me over the last number of years, there have been many times when I have been incredibly thankful for her, and it was great to be able to share this morning with her and watch as she became a citizen.

Lidia, Jonny and I

One of my favourite parts of the ceremony was watching an elderly woman receiving her citizenship. I don't know where she was from, but assume the middle East somewhere. She didn't speak English and a younger man was translating everything in her ear. I would have loved to hear her story, hear what journey brought her to this country and to citizenship in her later years. 

Lidia and I outside Hillsborough Castle

I am also incredibly thankful to be able to be in Belfast this week to spend some good quality time with my sister who is home for a few weeks with this young man to whom I am Uncle Tom. Gemma and Harry are enjoying a week in Belfast which I'm glad to be able to be up for some of! Thankful for some good family time.

A Little Thank-You Goes a Long Way.

We humans have a bit of a problem.

We don't exactly like staying on one path for too long. Survey human history and you'll see a pattern of disatisfaction develop, individuals and nations who are happy with their lot and then begin to become dissatisfied, only to start looking for something else, the next thing to take them to bigger and better places.

Dip anywhere into the Old Testament and you'll see a people completely dependent on God. And yet, time and time they turn away from Him. From the One who provided them with everything they needed; a land to call their own, an identity that set them apart, even food on their plates for the better part of 40 years (even if the menu plan may have gotten a little tedious after a while...)

So why did they turn away? Why turn away from the One who is very clearly providing at the time of your greatest need.

Because they forgot.

Time moves on, a pattern of life developed and they forgot the very simple fact that they couldn't do it on their own.

We are no different from these ancient people. We turn away from God and start doing our own thing when we forget that we need Him, when we forget that without Him our existence is finite. We think that we can go our own way, do our own thing, forgetting that nothing has ever existed that has not been wholy surrounded and upheld by the presence and grace of God.

When we forget to say Thank You, we forget what we have been given, our need of and dependence on the one who is the generous and merciful Giver.

Graditude to the Giver keeps us where we should be, in a place of dependence upon the only one that we can truly depend on.

Confirmation and Michael Jackson

Today I'm thankful for a great group of 5 young people that I've been working with for the last 8 months who saw the end of their journey (and the start of another one) towards their confirmation ceremony into the Church of Ireland.

We had a special service to celebrate yesterday morning, led by the recently appointed Archbishop, with a name you'll recognize, but perhaps for different reasons. It was the first visit of Archbishop Michael Jackson to Malahide, who presided over the service. 

There was a great turn out of friends and family of the young people, there to support and celebrate with them as they made the decision to own the faith that they were baptised into for themselves. 

An encouraging day for me to sit in the congregation and watch young people making decisions for themselves to follow and serve God. So I'm thankful for the opportunity to play a role in their journeys, and for the 5 young people St. Andrew's has taken through the confirmation preparation over the last period of time.

The Archbishop in St. Andrew's, Malahide

The vestibule following the service

Photo op with the Archbishop

Memory Lane

I spent the day yesterday with a good good friend of mine, Karen, who is moving to New Zealand for the year in a few weeks. We were talking about an odd experience that we had years ago where we were in a chippy on Botanic Avenue in Belfast which had a DJ in it late one night. A DJ playing music just for that chippy. 

It's one of those experiences that you are never quite sure whether it really happened when looking back... We knew there was photographic proof though, so I sifted through my hard drive yesterday evening looking for the photo. I haven't found it (yet) but it was fantastic flicking through the photos laughing about things I had forgotten.

One of my favourite memories from college was when a few of us attempted to boost the numbers for the small college choir by putting posters up around the place, but we thought we'd try and make them funny, so we took these photos:

It was only once we actually started putting the posters up that we started to question whether this was a good idea...but unfortunately by then it was a little late, but it makes for a good, if not a tad ridiculous, memory...

That boost in numbers never did appear either.

So today I'm thankful for good friends, and good memories. 

I'm also thankful that my sister and nephew arrived safely in Belfast yesterday morning after a long trip across the Atlantic. I'm looking forward to heading up north for a week off and to see them later on today.