Grateful

Give thanks with a grateful heart,

Give thanks to the Holy One.

Give thanks because of what the Lord has done for us.

Wise words of a song there. And today I giggled when I saw that this was the prompt. I have so much to be grateful for. Five minutes is not going to be enough.

This week I am thankful for my new job. I left teaching as it was not right (for many reasons) and was given a huge push by God to go into the hospice movement. It's lovely to do so as Chris' Grandad was very involved in the hospice movement, although he with adults and I'm working with children and young people.  I started work on Tuesday and it is fabulous. The people are lovely, with totally my sense of humour (which is rare and amazing!) and the work is going to  be challenging but I currently feel very well supported and it's very enjoyable. It's been an interesting week and I'm grateful for having the weekend off and then Monday off too. Hooray for 3 day weekends!

I'm also grateful for my health, my wonderful husband who has allowed me to take this job and is indeed changing his in order to make it easier. My parents deserve an eternal gratitude. They do so much for us and the children, but more than that, they support me in every decision I make. I am very very lucky.

After last week you know how grateful I am to have such fabulous friends and I look forward to making new ones in this job. I felt especially grateful yesterday when God gave me a wonderful Christian lady in my job.

I am a lucky lady, and I give thanks for so much.

Mess

Mess. I'm surrounded by it. Anyone who has been in my house will know it's....um....messy. As one kind friend put it, it's always full of 'stuff'. Yes we have far too many possessions which possibly causes the problem but we love it all.

I was thinking about this recently. I have a lot of friends who have tidy, clean, decluttered houses. And I admit, I am a little bit jealous of them. Part of me would really like a clear lounge floor, or a pristine hallway, or a bedroom with a larger path to the bed!

But then I got to thinking. When I look around me now, I'm sat on the sofa in my lounge. From here I can see P's Peter Rabbit lying on the floor. He's next to a discarded piece of material from which I made a cape for E's superhero day today. Next to that is a book E was looking at last night, and a random abandoned cushion that the cat used to like to sleep on. Under the tv unit there is a further collection of 'stuff'. Headphones, papers, a camera bag, a cushion...who knows what else. I'm not even looking further to list more. You get the idea.

And yet within all this 'stuff', inside this mess, there is a household of love. A family who love each other and have fun. I'm not saying fun can't be had within a tidy house, or that people can't tidy up after themselves (although that seems impossible in this house!) but I love this house and all its mess. And as much as I tidy up, we make the mess again. It's not just them, it's us, all of us.

So I shall remember that I am blessed to have a house to be messy, a family to make mess. And I shall count my blessings as I collect the cheerios spilt on the carpet (they get everywhere!), and remember how lucky I am to have this mess.

Friend

You've got a friend in me.....so goes the song.

I'm lucky, I have some amazing friends. There are lots of people in my life for whom I am grateful and some very special friends. Amusingly, even though I am writing this blog post a week late (why change the habit of a lifetime?!), the day this prompt was given by Lisa-Jo, I was off on a spa break with a very good friend.  I met her in London, a random meeting at a Share Jesus weekend. Turned out the northerner that we had been told was there just happened to teach my husband's sister. Small world eh?!

Also turned out she was a fed-up teacher, and a wonderful friend. Together we shared our stories and she moved out of teaching into ministry. God bless her! She was then instrumental in my move out of teaching. Thanks lovely!

But she's not the only friend I have. I am lucky. My husband is also a friend. We spent a long time trying to  be just friends before we realised there was more to 'us' than that. And I'm very glad we did! Love you!

I also had a lovely lunch date with a friend last week. We were colleagues, until I left. Now we can be friends. It's a much nicer term.....and certainly suits us better.

So if you're reading this and you haven't had a personal mention, I'm sorry. It doesn't mean you're not a valued friend. But 5 minutes isn't long! Some of my friends are new, some are old, but all of them have a special place in my heart. And each of them were put there for a reason. We may not know yet what it is, but you're all special to  me.

And I wish for true friends for my girls. They already have a best friend, each other. How lucky are they?!