Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

First of all I have permission to announce that Mark has got a girlfriend and she is called Kerry. Actually they have been going out about a month but I have only just got permission to announce it to the world. Lol. It seems weird that this year all of our children are now in relationships. I have chatted with Kerry a few times on MSN and she seems very sweet. 

Earlier on this week Ian and I were heading into Depot a DIY store when Ian started singing the following song:-

Busy Doin' Nothing

We're busy doing nothing,

Working the whole day through.

Trying to find lots of things not to do.

We're busy doing nothing,

Isn't it just a crime?
We'd like to be unhappy,

but we never do have the time.

Feel a bit like that at times, busy doing nothing, where does the time go? Days slip by and I wonder what we have done or achieved, but is that important? Yes some of the things we do are a waste of time like lounging around on the internet but then again there are times of conversations with friends and family that have been important and timely and have happened precisely because I am on the Internet a lot. I have also found a lot of the stuff I like to read has been useful for my course. I will read something for my course and think of an article I have read in the past that suddenly takes on a new relevance and so I have to go looking for it and add it to a list of useful articles for reference purposes. 

I like the rest of the song too especially this one 

I have to watch the river,

to see that it doesn't stop.

And stick around the rose buds,

so they'll know when to pop. 

And keep the crickets cheerful,

they're really a solemn bunch.

Hustle, Bustle,

And only an hour for lunch.

When was the last time you took the chance to watch a river flow, to try to imagine how many molecules and droplets that are contained within it hurtling down towards the sea, then taken up to sky and down as rain to join the river (okay I realise this maybe a little painful for some who have lost their summer to lots of said droplets dropping down to rejoin the river but still it is a fascinating process)? Our God who made us, made the water to circulate around to water our land - our creative is that! There is lots in the Bible about not being a sluggard but there is also lots in the Bible about observing and meditating on God's creation, it tells us so much about our Creator God.

Psalm 8:3-4

3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

David was a man after God's own heart and he took the time to consider the heavens, we can be so busy actually doing nothing of importance that we don't take time to consider the works of his fingers, to allow that to speak to us, to let his mystery shape us and lead us. So are you doing nothing but allowing God to speak to you, or are you doing lots of something that is really nothing in the end? I love it in Acts 2:46 as well where it talks about "They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts" - they spent time with each other eating together. I guess part of the problem is that we see verses like 

1Co 15:58 So then, my dear friends, stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless.

We then think by being busy we are doing work for the Lord, I don't think this is the case. There is a very distinct difference between being busy for the sake of being busy and being busy for the Lord. It is just me or am I being lazy? To me taking time to observe the wonders he made for us, the shapes of the leaves, the colours of the sunsets are being busy doing the Lord's work, they are there for us to enjoy or else why did he create them? They don't actually serve a purpose as such, except to remind us what a wonderful, creative, exuberant and generous God we have, to ignore them therefore by just being busy is to disrespect the gifts he gives us.

Well on a final note I am not particularly proud of myself this week. I have been particularly prickly of late and part of that is to do with getting over the honeymoon period and the novelty wearing off of being in another country. It is a phase, one I am well acquainted with and I know it will pass, I know it also means that it is time to re-examine what we do and why - something you don't tend to do when everything is chugging along nicely. Anyway that is not really the reason I am not proud of myself, it is the fact that after 5 years of moderating a Student Cafe I forgot the one thing that I am consistently telling my students, "Remember there is a real person on the other end of the email" and in your haste to make a point don't email something that will hurt or cause upset for no real reason. I am not saying that you should never stick to your principles and argue your case but there are times and ways of doing it that don't bring unnecessary hurt and I blew it! There was no need to push my point in the way I did. I have emailed an apology which was graciously accepted but a little more thought and consideration initially would have saved a lot of heartache. 

(P.S. Please don't get worried that everything is going horribly wrong as it is not in the least. As I said there is always a phase when the novelty wears off and things which seemed quaint a few months ago can become frustrating, especially when we still have nowhere near got to grips with the language. No one should ever imagine that moving to a place where they feel called to be or where their heart is, is not going to be without mundane ordinariness coupled with some frustrations which are wearing. Life is never all highs so we shouldn't expect it. What I do know is God is good and that is all I need to know right now!)

Another after thought that has just occurred to me as I was about to post the blog is it is my mother's birthday today and she is spending it at the Taj Mahal - as you do! (That is the Taj Mahal, India not the local restaurant)