Struggles

Doubts

Fear

Worry

Can paralyse

Or make life feel

Like a treadmill

Going fast

Going nowhere

Determination

A glimmer of hope

Self-honesty

And prayer

Keep one going

Then shines

The moment of grace

Unexpected

Pure gift and

Delight

It shatters the gloom,

Salves

And makes whole

Like nothing else

the Lord takes delight in his people (Psalm 149:4)

The parent delights in their children – in all the things that they do, in their abilities, in their existence. How do we know that the LORD delights in us? We are loved in our family and in our community. We are supported and enriched through our relationships with our family and our community. The Scriptures, too, are an ongoing gift to Christian communities. They guide us and are spiritual food for the journey. An end point of the combination of these factors is that we feel safe, loved – that we belong.

Our role with young people is to be the LORD’s heart and hands – to take delight in the young people in our care. We can support and challenge them as they grow, as they discover and develop their gifts and talents. Primarily, we can love them as they are – as the LORD does for each of us.

Have a great week…and break!
Patrick

Jesus said, ‘anyone who comes to me I will never drive away’ (John 6:37)

Such wonderfully comforting words are a solace for those who are emerging from a difficult time. Such is grace – we do not earn it – yet we are bathed in it. We may be admitting fault for an earlier indiscretion – looking to make things right. Maybe we have stepped away from our faith or have felt separated in some way. The door is never closed – let’s know that we are valued and loved.

And so it is with the young people in our care. The God that loved each of us into life, invites us to draw closer. In the silence of the heart of each young person who prays to draw closer to God, they are welcomed, valued and loved. There are no conditions, no entrance fee – just grace, abundantly unearned grace. Grace that wraps around us and says to each of us: “I love you as you are”.

Have a great week!
Patrick

We believe that each person is created in the image and likeness of God and so has an inherent dignity.

This video shows that beautifully

Peace
Patrick

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death (Phil 3:10)

We can view pain and suffering as something to be avoided – a view commonly held in our society. Alternately, our pain and suffering can serve a redemptive purpose. We may emerge from a difficult period with a clearer sense of who we are, a clearer sense of what matters in life. We can fill our lives with things and/or achievements when what most matters is our love and how it can give life.

A young person will be well nurtured in an environment where they are loved into life – by their family, by their friends, by their school. Thus they will have a living example of Jesus’ self-emptying, self-sacrificing love to follow. Such an example of love is vital as they grapple with life’s difficulties. In so doing it may help them to grasp self-sacrificing love’s redemptive potential – when ‘the wound becomes the fountain’, to quote one of my lecturers.

Have a great week!
Patrick

Today, 27 May, is the 49th anniversary of the 1967 referendum that changed Australia’s constitution so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were counted in the census. Until then, they were considered under the Flora and Fauna Act. Someone who is making a difference is my friend, Scott Darlow.

Check out his videos Down Like Flies and Solid Rock

The LORD is near to the broken-hearted
and saves the crushed in spirit (Ps 34:18)

‘Do it self’ will be heard emerging from the mouth of a toddler as she/he asserts their independence and self-efficacy. There are adults who think they don’t need God. All is right with their world. The person who has lost their job or a loved one or is dealing with some calamity is looking for solace. Stripped of all pretense, they will pray for comfort. Our faith assures us that their prayer will be answered, in some way.

As we intentionally do God’s work and are ‘God’s heart and hands’, we will comfort the young person in distress. Thus they will receive some physical comfort, along with spiritual comfort if they are open, from the God who loves them dearly.

Have a great week!
Patrick

when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved’ (Luke 3:21-22)

All of our words about God fall short. How can anyone describe the infinite? Despite the ‘difficulties’, Christians continue in their trinitarian belief because it describes our reality. Jesus was sent by the Father to show us a way of living and loving along which the Holy Spirit guides us. Thus we truly enter the human condition depthing the goodness in us placed there by the Father so that we build community here. In so doing, we share the love and peace of Father, Son and Spirit.

We are made in the image of a triune God – this is why we are whole in relationship, in community. Want to be at peace? Love and be loved – it is as simple and fulfilling and complicated and painful as that. This is the path to wholeness placed in our spiritual DNA by our loving God.

Have a great week!
Patrick

Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3-4)

The task for each of us is to embrace life with zeal – to be on fire with the goodness that God has placed in me. This presupposes that I have discovered and developed that goodness. A question for each of us: Am I making the most of all of my talents? There will be times in each of our lives when we’re not at our ‘glittering best’. However, if I feel that my life, my work is humdrum, have I steered away from one or more of my talents? What am I doing to tap into my passion? We must remember that God has placed our talents in us. When we use them, we are co-operating with the Holy Spirit – doing God’s work. This is the essence of vocation.

How can we guide the young people in our care on the path to their true happiness? By continuing to provide them with opportunities to discover their gifts and talents – as well as opportunities to pay attention to themselves: what moves me? What weighs me down? The more young people pay attention to their inner workings, the more they will be on the path to their happiness – mapped out by our loving God.

Have a great week!
Patrick

How do you say ‘thank you’

For all that has been done for you

When you’re most vulnerable?

Whether you’re one day old

One decade old

Or much older than that

Mum is there

Loving you

Through the minutes

The months

And the decades

By stroking your forehead

Or cleaning you

Or visiting you in hospital…

Or worse

You say ‘thank you’

Not just in word

But also in deed

By reciprocating

By being there

For her

Knowing that you can never repay

All that has been done for you

But you can still try