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Saturday 19 November 2011

The children have it right...

Watching Children in Need last night with the Adventurous Pair caused me to think upon how children have a natural sense of justice and fairness and a horror at what is blatantly wrong. All through the show I was heading off cries of 'pleeeeease mummy, please donate again, come on, how can you not' and various other emotional blackmail-ish types of statements ;)

Some might say that this is because children are easily influenced, but I think it's due to their God-given sense of fair play. Us adults have often become somewhat jaded and cynical and downright apathetic about these things, but there is nothing like a child in tears at a film of another child with a disability to help one regain some perspective on the world. Maybe we need to listen to the children more.

This was reinforced to me the other day when watching one of Adventurous Girl's literacy lessons. The children were challenged in groups to research somebody involved in civil rights. All the groups approached the task with great interest and you could sense the outrage rising as they found out facts about people such as Martin Luther King and Ghandi. Adventurous Girl's scathing and unbelieving remarks about apartheid would match any passionate politician and doubtless come from a purer agenda. I wonder if this is closer to what God's heart is like; the innocence of a child facing harsh realities and responding with tears and stark unbelief. Maybe we should listen to the children more and allow ourselves to feel it again the way we once did. Maybe then we might get up and do something more. Who knows.

Saturday 5 November 2011

A Life in a Day

I've been avoiding blogging lately, mostly because I've felt I have had little to say beyond the 'oh, I feel rubbish again' type of thing. I wanted this blog to be all inspiring and extraordinary, but actually, in general life isn't like that. Maybe I should post on more of those days when I have nothing much to say. Maybe not. Either way, it's been one of those relegated-to-bottom-of-to-do-list items.

However, I did watch something extraordinary last night and it broke through the lethargy of my non-blogging state of mind. It was the film of Life in a Day which asked people all over the world to send in videos of themselves going about their ordinary lives on one particular day, 24th July 2010. When Adventure Bloke mentioned it I thought it might be a bit meh, but having watched it was immensely moved, and reminded of the power of the human spirit to triumph over adversity and make the best of things. The image of a child snuggling down to sleep in the fishing boat they lived and work in, with a big smile on her face, is one which will stay with me. And it just captured so many different people in different situations, cheerful and despairing, the whole breadth of human experience.

I believe there is that spirit because it comes from the Spirit who breathed life into us, a God of endless creativity, energy and hope. Seeing people singing as they worked in the most difficult of circumstances reminded me of the hope Jesus brings now for all, the hope of a better day, of a time when all will be well.

You'll have to watch it for yourself :)

Meanwhile, maybe I'll apply some of that positivity to my own situation and live fully for each day, whether ill or well. I really want to, but it's hard to know how to sometimes when you are stuck in a day with no spoons. As most of my days seem this way at present I'm a bit weary of it all.

But I'll endeavour to take a leaf from Adventure Girl's book. She is plagued with psoriasis at the moment, really covered in it and things aren't easy but her cheerful spirit always shines through everything she goes through. Now to catch some of that...