God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46.1 (NKJV) Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29.12-13 (NKJV) I didn't have as much time for this illustration today, but I still wanted to share it with you. At my church we do this holiday club for the kids every summer, and as part of the big celebration bit at the start, with all the kids together, we have a slot for the children to share their 'God-Sightings' from the day before. Or a wall they can add a God-Sighting brick to, or a tree they can add a God-sighting leaf to - you get the idea. The kids would come back with the most creative ideas of where they'd seen God - in each other, in pets, in a cosy bed they slept in last night, in the love of their parents, in the fun of the songs we'd just been singing together.
These two passages remind me that there's nothing that could be happening that would mean I couldn't run to God and be safe, and that whenever I look for God, God will be found. I strongly believe that God loves to reveal his character and love to us. And most of the time we're too busy to notice. So why not use this slowed time to not just get too busy again, in different ways. Keep your eyes open. Look for those God-sightings! And feel free to share in the comments below. My God-sighting today was when I went on a run earlier (I've decided to start the Couch-to-5k thing given that I'm no longer able to keep active in other ways...) and as I ran down my street I saw the edge wall of a house, just inside the window frame, where there was white tattered paint peeling off and red paint underneath. Now I'm aware if asked what that made people think of, each different person would come up with something different. But me - well, red is my favourite colour - I saw that tattered self I felt, but with something beautiful underneath ready to be revealed. Though I felt exhausted and fragile by the time I got back from my run, I also felt like there was newness and energy in this week, and confidence to have a go and new and daunting things (two such things have I've been invited to join since that run!). Keep your eyes open. God will keep you safe, and will be there when you seek him. Stay safe, and take care!
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This last week I've been helping out at a holiday club with my church where the theme was 'Kingdom Rock: Where kids stand strong for God!' I played the part of a Queen of a vast kingdom (a cardboard castle!) as I lead the beginning and ending sections of each day. The week was SO good! Seeing the kids really enjoy taking part in how the Bible stories were brought to life by the whole team was awesome - in immersive Bible adventures, craft, video, sport, food, drama and LOTS of singing and dancing! It definitely stole at least 2 weeks worth of energy for those 5 days, but I can't wait to do it all again and see how we can build on this throughout the year too! But looking back on these photos from the church's Instagram feed, my most prominent thought is: cardboard!I've been trying to get ahead a little on thinking about ideas for my dissertation for when I go back to college (more like just reading cool stuff that I'm super interested in and giving myself a progress-related excuse, despite thinking we should be able to read and learn just for fun whenever we want!) - and anyway, I've been reading lots of stuff about Metamodernism (see this brief introduction if you wanna know what it is!). And there was this little paragraph about upcycling and recycling. It was saying how postmodernism "recycled" pop culture with parody and pastiche, whereas metamodern artists pick out things from the past that allow them to "resignify the present and reimagine the future." [1]
I have my dad to thank for my love of both of these - the numerous times of having to empty rubbish bags I'd been lazy with when tidying my room in order to sort it into what could be recycled and what couldn't, and the endless shelves and spaces filled with hoarded cardboard, and plastic containers, and so on, all waiting for their new purpose to be discovered. Whilst I have never before thought of these as overtly good memories, I am doing now! Where can you find new value in something you'd forgotten? Some old material or clothes, or stuff, sure, but also perhaps some old skill you haven't had a go at for a long time, or some part of yourself you gave up on because it failed too many times? Maybe stop trying to recycle yourself all the time - you do not get less valuable the more you have to try or the more you become less needed. God doesn't recycle! God creates newness, even out of what you think makes you weak. When those kids at my holiday club saw our castle, they didn't see old rubbish, and they didn't see the hours that had gone into creating it - they saw a castle, where they became knights. Know that you're valuable. And discover new value, new purpose, new adventure - that is life with God! [1] Robin van den Akker & Timotheus Vermeuelen, "Periodising the 2000s, or, the Emergence of Metamodernism," in Metamodernism: Historicity, Affect and Depth after Postmodernism (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), 10.
[2] ibid, 10. |
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AuthorI'm a recent Cambridge Theology graduate now studying for a Masters in Biblical Studies and blogging about all sorts of things! I'm interested in faith, Church, theology, social action, the great outdoors and being creative, and all of those things - along with many more - come through in my posts!
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