Yes

Yes.......Mooble is back. I haven't written a 5 minute Friday for over a year. Seeing as the last one was after my first week in my 'new' job, I could say I've been too busy, but it's more likely to be that I don't often know what day it is, so Fridays hurry past. I keep thinking of coming back, and today....yes....here I am. (If you want to know more about Five Minute Friday, then click here)

Yes.

It's something I say far too rarely to my kids. I'm far more likely to say no. And I notice it now because of the job I do. Part of my job is working with children allowing them and enabling them to do what they want to do. Saying yes.

I sat in work only last week with a girl who was emptying all manner of glitter, sand, and other fabulous textured things into a pot which had originally contained 'gloop' (you know, cornflour and water. Never made it? Oh you should!). Well she added the glitter, and all kinds of other things we had out for sensory activities and every part of me (well the teacher and mum parts!) wanted to say, 'No, Stop. Don't waste  it'. But I didn't. I said 'yes'. And she had a fabulous time.

It made me think I should do that at home with my girls.....but I probably won;t. It's harder to say yes when it's your ingredients and your house to clean up.

But I should say yes more often.

God says yes to me. He shows me the things I need to see, and leads me in the ways I should go. He has helped me to say yes recently to things I didn't think I would say yes to. And I'm grateful, and excited. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but here's hoping it's the chance to say ......yes.

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?!

Glue

Glue. It's what holds us together, what binds us.

I look at my little family and think about what holds us together. I think God's love is the glue that holds us together.

I think of Jesus' instruction to us : To love one another as I have loved you. And I look at the love my girls have for each other, and in that, I do see the love of Jesus.

Today we went for a trip to the Trafford Centre and they had money to spend and thus a list of shops they wanted to visit. One of them was Waterstones ( a book shop for any unfamiliar with it). They wandered through the children's books and neither of them demanded, asked, requested anything for themselves. Instead they each pointed out books that the other would like.

"Esther, come quick, there's a book about owls."

"Phoebe, look......no come here.....it's a rabbit book."

"Esther, I've found an emergency vehicle!"

"Phoebe, I'm going to buy this one because it is about a penguin and I'm going to read it to you."

The last one was purchased and I'm sure they will sit together and Esther will read it to Phoebe.

It was lovely. And then the curled up together on the sofa, each looking after the other, watching Frozen together. The film is all about love, and how an act of love saves a life.

I look at my girls and see love. Love as the glue that holds us together, Love like the Father's love for us, to send His Son to the cross to allow us to live....and to love. And I pray that love will live between sisters, and between each of them and God forever.

Writer

(I'm back on track, it really is Friday! And the right Friday at that!)

Writer. Hmmm, I'm not a writer, and yet here I am writing to you now. I love reading other people's writing and a good book is a gift. Equally a good blog.

But writing was never my strong point. I remember my Yer 3 teacher (the lovely Mr Burdus) telling me that my brain worked too fast for my hand to keep up, and that I missed out important words in sentences. I smile to myself when I now say that to parents of kids in my Year 3 class. I was more a mathematician than a writer though. I did like writing but I still struggle with higher level sentence openers, conjunctions, adverbial phrases (I admit I haven't got the first clue what they are...even now!), and all those other things I encourage my poor kids to put into their writing. I'd never get a Level 5 for writing.

But I do enjoy it. (And I know that I shouldn't start sentences with either 'but' or 'and'!). I've enjoyed writing this little blog. Five minutes is a challenge but it's a fun one. Thank you Lisa-Jo for starting it off and continuing to give a  prompt each Friday. I don't always manage it on the given Friday, but I do try to fill in the gaps.

Let me know what else I should write about. I'm willing to witter in my own inimitable style! I promise I make more sense in person....I think it's the hand waving, it clarifies everything!!

Mighty

Ooops, this is last week's......I'm a bit slow! (Plus it's a tricky one!)

Mighty. He is mighty to save.....that's a lyric from a worship song, I can't even work out which one (and in five minutes I don't have time to keep singing it till I work it out!). But He is mighty, and He does save. Our God is an awesome God.

What else is mighty? Well, nothing can be as mighty as God. I don't know. It's not a word I use often. I use 'might' a lot. I might do this....I might do that....we might be able to go there. I guess it stops me confirming anything so that I'm not in trouble with the kids (my own or my school kids) if things don't go to plan.

But mighty. That's a whole different game. I guess I see the mightiness of God at Eastertime. I know we're not strictly there yet but we break up from school for the Easter holidays next friday and I'm thinking about it more. We're acting out the Easter story with my Y3 and 4s. It's humbling watching this gorgeous little kid (and our Jesus is a really lovely young man!) pretending to be crucified. Listening to him say, "It is finished" and hanging his head while in front of a painted cross is a poignant reminder of how humble and yet how mighty Jesus is.

He did that for you, you know. He did that for you, and he would have done it if you were the only person on earth ever to live. He is mighty.  Mighty to save. Do ask me about it if you want to know more.