Shine

Last night we thanked God for some stuff, then I read a ‘poem’ that I wrote a while ago. We chatted about it after and ended up talking and praying about what sort if things stop us from ‘shining’. Max said something cool, maybe Connor can describe it better (!?). Here’s the poem that I read (I wrote it one morning after waking up, I saw a picture of a pearl kind of inside me and then ‘spewd’ this onto a page. The cool thing is, I honestly don’t feel like it was me who wrote it…does that make sense? I hope it’s encouraging anyway):

Shine

This little light of mine
I’m trying to let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m fighting to let it shine

This little light, a pearl sometimes lost in the depths of my stomach
Sometimes I loose it, just for a time
Other times it rises up into my heart
Somehow multiplying, rising, and further still
It pulsates through my skin
Rebounding, ricocheting off my internal surfaces
Until it finds a way, an outlet, an expression

This little light of mine
I love it when it shines
Shining through my fingers, my eyes and my cheeks
A radiance unbeaten
When it rises up it changes me, transforms me, renews me
This great explosion of beauty, of compassion, of grace,
of creativity and freedom

This little light of mine
Oh I love it when it shines

But sometimes my light, it grows faint, it flickers,
seems distant, retreats to my depths
My soul searches and fights, frustration sets in,
in rekindling my light.
I reach down to retrieve it, anger abounds,
fear of this darkness, loneliness restrains.
This little light, somewhere inside, rolling away
A mere thought in my mind.
In the pits of my stomach I know it rests,
a tiny pearl, not taken, not lost

It’s then that I realise, my light must be nurtured
It must be fed and refreshed to rise up again
I come to the source, refreshing my light
My flame is ignited
My heart wins the fight

This little light of mine
I’m trying to let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m fighting to let it shine


I then wrote the following as a bit of an explanation (!):

This little light of mine brings radiance, beauty, creativity, freedom, love, hope, joy, strength, purity, confidence, peace, expression, grace and clarity.
When my light is not ignited and is left to flicker, ignored and abandoned, it brings anger, frustration, insecurity, loneliness, anxiety, shame, guilt, regret, fear, tiredness, weariness, unrest, shyness and confusion.
I must let my little light shine, I must come to the source, and reignite my flame, let it rise up within me, into my heart, my all, let it spread out its power throughout my being, be strengthened and renewed, let its beauty and radiance shine from my face. I must let my light shine. I must come to the source of that light. God’s spirit is that source. His spirit is within me.

Apologies for the long post!

Value the Person

Achan and Jesus

In Joshua there's an intense story about a guy called Achan who messes up and is dealt with pretty harshly for it. It's a good story and really reminds you that because Jesus came we don't need to be stoned to death for stuffing up.

My highlight of the night was probably when Reuben said: "It's actually really freeing, knowing that no matter how hard you try you're always going to stuff up."

I like it because it really makes it clear that in the face of the perfection of God we need Jesus. I used to think of it like this: Imagine you have lots of little bits of metal inside you. If a big magnet comes along your flesh will be ripped to pieces. Jesus removes the sin from us so that when we meet a holy God we're not ripped to pieces.

Does that make sense? Have i miss quoted you Reuben?

Welcome

First post - pressure.

I'm starting this Blog, for us to keep in touch and to document what happens in our community. It'll give people that want to be our new friends an idea of what it's like being in the gang. It might work. It might not.

We're meeting this week at our flat at 8pm. Lucia is going to dish out a rota in the near future so that we all get a chance to our tuppence into the mix.