Friday Five

I think this may be the first time I've joined in the RevGalBlogPals 'Friday Five'. This week's is on Preparation Preparation...

1. You have a busy week, pushing out all time for preparing worship/ Sunday School lessons/ being ready for an important meeting (or whatever equivalent your profession demands)- how do you cope?
I squeeze in some time to prepare - either by staying up late or getting up very early, or both!

2. You have unexpected visitors, and need to provide them with a meal- what do you do?
I've usually got some chicken in the freezer and potatoes in the cupboard so I could usually manage jacket potatoes and a big pot of chicken and whatever else I've got to go in it! Or a meal from whatever else I did have - and if there's absolutely nothing, then I'd nip round the shop and grab something. I'm a bit of a dull cook, but this wouldn't faze me particularly!

Three discussion topics:
3. Thinking along the lines of this weeks advent theme; repentance is an important but often neglected aspect of advent preparations.....
I suspect I also neglect this aspect and focus on eager expectation and preparations/looking afresh at our spiritual life (which I suppose should draw in repentance then). But I leave the serious repentance season for Lent!

4. Some of the best experiences in life occur when you simply go with the flow.....
Possibly, can't think of any off the top of my head though!

5. Details are everything, attention to the small things enables a plan to roll forward smoothly...
Well, yes, I am a detail person so I tend to cover details as an automatic really. Having said that though, I still manage to frustrate the whatsit out of myself by not being prepared and organised enough!

Bonus if you dare- how well prepared are you for Christmas this year?
Hahahahaha! Does that answer the question? Though it does depend on which aspect of Christmas you look at - work (as in church) wise, I've been thinking and planning ahead and am getting the services sorted out. Homewise I end up charging around at the last minute and not sending out the cards. I'm trying harder this year (which I say I'll do every year) and have at least bought a few things today.

Some days...

Some days I wish I was a beach hut attendant or a postman or a gardener
(yes, ha ha if you've seem mine)
or worked in a bookshop or the library
or was childminding again
or was a long distance lorry driver
or a hilltop hermit
or doing what I do but 60 years ago
and in the country
where I could plod around the village like an Agatha Christie vicar
and not seem to worry so much about structures and visions
and could drink lots of cups of tea
(er, well some things don't change)
and frown a bit when the old ladies start gossiping
(though I suppose if I was an Agatha Christie vicar
I might need to worry about murderous neighbours...)
and I suppose I wish I could have a glimpse ahead
to see if I did any good
and if the days when it's a bit of a struggle
are only pages 43 to 45 in the biography someone writes about me one day
where the huge struggles seem to pass very quickly in the big scheme of things
And some days I wish my default was 'that was ok'
and not 'I am a failure'
or the assumption that someone else would be so much better
because I know that God sees in me
what I often miss
but that doesn't stop me worrying
that I am killing his church
running low on imagination
or forgetting that God
can do so much with or without
my feeble efforts
and yet he lets me share the journey.
Some days I have to remind myself
to put the right shoes on in the morning
not try and put His on by mistake
but pick up my faithful old boots
and keep plodding
keep seeing
the beauty of the autumn colours
keep smiling
at the thought of the people who share this ride
keep laughing
at the humour of humanness
keep believing
that God is at work
keep trusting that all will be well
just because he says so.