Ministry to the soul
Spent the last 3 days at Fanad Head in Donegal (hence the reason for no blogging – drastically needed my head showered by the end of last week!)– it never ceases to amaze me the way stunning scenery can truly minister to the soul. What is it exactly about hills, the sea, beaches, lakes, expanses of sky (whether clear or even cloudy) can be called beautiful – how exactly do you define beauty? I guess you can say a lot of stuff about being close to creation and therefore being more appreciative of the Creator - there definitely is value in that. Anyway trying to define beauty could take a long time, great scenery does something for me!

The grass is always greener?
My sister & I were chatting and she was telling me about a series of documentaries on families emigrating to other countries, and in each of the cases profiled, the families found it really tough and most came home despite having said that Australia/Italy/wherever was going to provide the kind of life they wanted. My sis & I were commenting on how so often the grass is greener on the other side and so many people will go to crazy lengths to get something better than what they already have. It occurred to me just how relevant Paul’s statement – “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Phil 4:11) is. If we could really grasp that kind of contentment, (& maybe it’s not about grasping, maybe it’s about pursuing or deliberately choosing) then we’d have a lot more peace about where we are. Nothing very profound in that, I guess I just realised that it wasn’t a random statement from Paul when he said that – to be content whatever the circumstances is a Biblical discipline we should try & practice.