Thank You

This blog article is to stimulate gratitude for the simple things in life…the blessings that are by their thousands, every day, but that often go uncelebrated.

I’m sat in a restaurant in Torbay in Devon looking out to sea. There’s an Easterly wind today which is good news for surfers because the waves are churning, and I’m thankful. I very much appreciate the sea because it gives me a sense of ‘inner space’ to think and feel. It’s actually really grey and wet and cold too….but I’m still thankful for the sea. Really thankful.

I’m thankful too for a healthy appetite – being able to order a JP and eat it with no problems in my body, not to mention the £4 in my account to pay for it. Such a simple thing to be thankful for but, if it were taken away, I’d miss it big time.

I’m thankful that I’ve got two wrists that work without any pain so that I can type this and two eyes that can look up occasionally to look at the inky grey waves with their white froth. I’m thankful that I have a car parked outside (The Beast – it’s done 135’000 miles and owns the roads here) – it’ll take me to where I wanna go later without having to get wet. Amazing!

What’s in your immediate world today that you’re thankful for but which could easily be missed or that you take for granted?

And this spirit of gratitude and thankfulness can spring up in us even in the midst of difficulty.

My right ankle that I broke when I was 14 means that I can’t really play the sport that I truly love anymore, (football), because when I do it swells up and makes me limp. But my other ankle is awesome and the rest of my body is really strong and well….so I can do pretty much anything else – including kite-surfing or pushing myself to the limit in the gym or body pump (yeah a bit lame but great for building lean muscle mass). So I am super thankful for that!

And the best thing is that His mercies are new EVERY morning. It’s getting dark now but when it gets light again tomorrow His mercy extended to me again will be new…and you too.

Thank You!

30-year old Brothers

I thought I’d write a quick post  without much thought because it’s my brother’s 30th birthday today. I’ll turn 30 in a few years (I jest – I have already). Banter. But I remember at the time thinking, “wow…I’m really 30?”. It felt landmarkesque. That’s not even a word. It is now.

The seventeenth verse of the seventeenth chapter of Proverbs (it’d have been a lot quicker to write Prov.17:17) says that ‘Brothers are born for adversity”. This is an awesome truth that applies to Christian brothers but, uniquely, our blood siblings.

Proverbs 17:17 is an amazing verse. It doesn’t say Mothers or Fathers or even friends are born for adversity; it says that brothers are. Perhaps that’s because brothers and sisters are usually around for the larger span of one’s life whereas the others aren’t, normally at least – (parents because of age and friends often because of the changeable and nomadic nature of life).

It is true that spirit is thicker than blood, (because heaven is more real than earth and spirit more than flesh) but when you have kindred spirits with a blood brother (or sister)…it is amazing.

This is seen so powerfully in Genesis 42-44 as Jacob’s 11 sons travel to Egypt to see Joseph to buy grain in the midst of famine. They didn’t recognise Joseph but he did recognise them. The most striking part of this account is the way that Joseph struggles to maintain composure in the presence of Benjamin (the son of his own mother) such was the sense of connection with him as a brother. Joseph had to leave their presence to wash his face because he was weeping, and this is over a brother (so powerful is the connection) who had sold hm into slavery years before.

One of the main reasons that brothers and sisters can help in adversity in ways that others can’t is because of shared history. Yes, you can share history with a friend (perhaps more meaningfully) than a sibling, but the unique blood/dna/spiritual link with a family member means that the synergy in shared history will be more poignantly shared than with others. I think it’s this closely shared and interpreted history that is especially valuable in times of adversity – at least, this has been my experience.

Told you it’d be quick!