Day 9: The blessing of others who share your faith...

Friday night is youth club night. For two hours each Friday, I, with a group of other youth from my church get together to discuss a section of the Bible. Instead of partying all night we spend nearly 2 hours discussing the wonderful word of God. It is wonderful to spend this time talking about what the Bible is teaching us, encouraging one another and building each other up in our faith. Being able to support and share ideas with other youth in the congregation is wonderful, they are there to encourage you in your walk with God and in turn, you can help them also.

Tonight's 'blessing' is named "The blessing of others who share your faith..." Imagine if you were the only person you knew who is a Christian, the only person who believes that Jesus is their saviour and who lives a life of thankfulness to Him. Imagine how hard that would be. There would be so much temptation around us. There would be noone who can support us when we have doubts or problems, noone to turn to who can mentor and guide us and help us to understand the Bible. Being a member of a congregation, having others around you who have the same faith as you is a wonderful blessing. One which I am reminded again to be thankful for.

Day 8: The gift of laughter

I don't think that I have ever spent a day without laughter. This may have something to do with the fact that I have three brothers who all enjoy being in the centre of attention and usually get there by the use of wit and humour (and then they just stir each other up). Or possibly the fact that I constantly find myself in awkward, silly and crazy situations in which I just have to laugh at myself.

I cant see myself going through a day without laughter in some shape or form. To be honest I think a day like that will be slightly sad. They do say that laughter is the best medicine...

We can see laughter as a a gift. The ability to laugh at those things in life which are either hilariously funny or sad is a gift. After the fall into sin, sadness and misery became a part of life. With laughter, the sad parts of life aren't so oppressive, and we can still face the next day.

(P.s. I apologise for not posting this yesterday, I was working a sleep shift and didn't have time to do this.)

Day 7: the blessing in the beauty around us.

"The heavens declare the glory of God" Psalm 19:1.  We can see the glory of God in the beauty and marvels of creation all around us. I see that as a blessing. There are so many marvels in creation. We can look at the awesomeness of the universe and the numerous galaxies or the awe-inspiring majesty of mountains and gorges and they are a reflection of the glory and majesty of our God. We can look at the intricacy of the human eye or the precise way in which the human body functions, down to the function of the tiniest platelet in the blood stream and we can see them as a reflection of the greatness of God.

Isn't it such a blessing that we can look at those things around us and be assured that they are all a result of intelligent design? Isn't it such a blessing that God is reflected in His creation so that we can see him? We can be comforted by the knowledge that God is there when we see how his glory is shown in the creation around us. We can be reassured that there is a God when we see the awesomeness of creation which surrounds us, (because really, it is not at all possible that it could have evolved to be that way).

I pray that I will continue to have the eye to see the beauty that surrounds me so that I can continue to see the glory of God which is always with me.

Day 6: the blessing in a hobby

Today I was reunited with my paints, easel and canvas. It was a wonderful reunion and I spent the whole day immersed  in a world of creativity and paint. I had a day 'off' from my usual business of study, work, planning for the upcoming youth congress our church is hosting and all the other little things that I seem to be doing and absorbed myself in my painting. I love painting, well I love anything creative really, but painting is one hobby that I can loose myself in and forget about everything else.

Not the picture I painted today - but one of my paintings which now graces the walls of Dad's office.

Do you have a hobby? Hobbies are a wonderful gift which we can use to escape from all the other requirements of our life. Dictionary.com defines a hobby as an "activity or interest pursued for pleasure and relaxation and not as a main occupation." I also feel that a hobby is more than that. We are called to honour God in everything that we do, and that includes our hobbies. Especially because hobbies also are blessings from God. The fact that we have the time and resources to pursue a hobby is a blessing from God.

Day 5: the gift of educational opportunities

Today I slaved hard all day and managed to hand in two assingments. Both of which were about 10 pages long. Honestly, I did not enjoy this one little bit. In fact I hated it. The assignments were long, they took ages and there was so much more interesting things that I could be doing instead of writing assignments. Yes, I admit it. I procrastinated. A lot. I always procrastinate. It's just something I happen to be good at (and something that I probably shouldn't be good at). I will spend time on facebook, write a blog post, draw a picture, read a book, watch some pointless clips on youtube, listen to some new music, download some more music, make dinner, help my sister finish her art project, maybe even dig out my own paints, all before I will actually sit down and write my assignments. If that's not procrastination I don't know what is.

As a uni student I have such a wonderful opportunity to advance my education. Not every person is able to spend that much time learning. In some countries children don't even finish their primary schooling because they are needed at home. Other families don't have the money to send their children to a university (or even a secondary school). And others don't see the reason or purpose in further study. I have such a wonderful opportunity to advance my knowledge. Such a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the world in which we live in. And how do I use that opportunity? By procrastinating. Something I really shouldn't be doing.

I have such a blessing to be able to advance our learning in a University. If your reading this and you have the same blessing as I do, use it well.

Day 4: The blessing of Being a Church Kid

Today is Sunday. For my whole life Sundays have been a different day from the rest of the week. Every Sunday, for as long as I can remember our whole family has gone to Church. Twice. (Unless of course somebody is sick, we are somewhere on holidays or for some other unexplained reason). To put it simply, I'm a church kid. I grew up going to church each week, the same way my parents and even grandparents grew up.
I was taught the Bible from a very young age and then by the time I was in High School, I went to Bible Study, or youth group, each week, had catechism classes up until the age where I made a 'public profession' of my faith, went to a Christian school for the all of my schooling life where each day began with devotional Bible reading and prayer.

As a church kid, I don't have any amazing conversion experience which I can share with everyone, I don't have a particular point of time in my life where I can say that, that is where I decided to live my life for God. BUT, I do have a wonderful knowledge of the Bible which comes from the instruction I have received throughout my life. I do have parents and grandparents with an even deeper knowledge of the Bible, just because they have been studying it longer than me.

Looking at this, I realise how often I am not thankful for what I have been given as a Church kid. So often I take for granted that I have learnt so much about the Bible. So often I take for granted that for 7 years I had catechism instruction every Tuesday/Wednesday night and that I still have the opportunity to meet with other like-minded youth to discuss the wonders found in the Bible. So often I take for granted that I have parents and grandparents that have so much wisdom and knowledge about the Bible and that they have been imparting this wisdom to me my whole life.

In being a 'Church Kid' there is SO much that we can be thankful for.

Day 3: the blessing of family

Tonight's post is going to be a short one. It's late, I'm kinda tired and my computer has limited battery remaining.

I love my family. But so often I forget to appreciate how much they mean to me. Those long talks we all have at the dinner table. Those deep and meaningful discussions I have with my parents late on a Friday night after youth group, when the decent time to be in be is long past. The heart to heart talks I have with my sister. The friendly and happy teasing that my brothers are so good at. It is all a part of my life and so often I don't see how much of a blessing it really is. So often I take it all for granted.

I am so thankful for how much my family means to me. I pray that I will continue to recognise it as the blessing that it is.