Work in the children’s room was completed today, with the boilers being boxed in and the sink unit fitted.

How it looked at the start:

Making the frame:

Adding doors to allow access for the boilers to be serviced:

The completed work:

Then work started on the sink unit (to allow for access for messy activities such as painting at Sunday School):

All finished, including tiling!

Our thanks to Dave for his very capable organisation of these works and to Russ for his joinery skills. Most of the refurbishment work is now complete, though some work on the stage area (replacing the curtains with a concertina partition and laying a carpet in this area) remains to be done next week.

Instant coffee (derived from brewed coffee beans and commercially produced by freeze drying or spray drying, after which it can be rehydrated through adding boiled water) has been around a long time now. It was first patented in 1890, by David Strang and was first available commercially in 1910, with the Nescafé brand, which introduced a more advanced coffee refining process, being launched in 1938.

The advantages of instant coffee are obvious. Instead of waiting to grind beans and then allow these to brew through the addition of hot water, a hot drink is available in seconds rather than minutes. In today’s busy society, such time-savings are highly prized.

Whether the taste is worth it is debatable, of course. And the whole question of instant gratification raises a number of questions when applied to the spiritual life. Our fast food society urges speed and haste on us above every other consideration, including taste, nutritional value and the pleasures of slowing down to eat amongst others. If we are not careful, the values and attitudes of this society are transferred to our perception of spiritual growth.

Discipleship cannot be instant. ‘No one is given an instant relationship with God. We must go through a process of learning what it means to live in relationship with Him,’ Richard Foster says in the book ‘Longing For God.’ (P 229) The process begins with conversion, but we must then go on to grow up in God and this cannot be rushed. Eugene Peterson says ‘maturity cannot be hurried, programmed or tinkered with. There are no steroids available for growing up in Christ more quickly. Impatient shortcuts land us in the dead ends of immaturity.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘Practise Resurrection’) First of all we learn to harness our misdirected desires so that we can cultivate moral virtues, but we then need to understand that ‘moral achievement is not God’s ultimate intention for us. Rather, our destiny is a life-giving, ongoing interaction with God.’ (Richard Foster & Gayle Beebe, ‘Longing For God.’ P 229) We have to understand that spiritual growth cannot be rushed and that the lessons learned through perseverance, suffering and endurance are important to the shaping of who we become.

Here is a prayer for all who are in a hurry:

“We come humbly and bow before you, God. The world we live in has taught us to short-circuit our relationship with you. We’re taught to expect an instant relationship, instant answers to prayers, instant growth in grace, instant spiritual maturity. O God, truly merciful, forgive us our sins. Forgive our impatience. Forgive our arrogance. Forgive our impetuousness. O Lord, our Lord, forgive.

Teach us to take one step at a time. Teach us contentment in growing into your life little by little. Teach us the humility of unanswered prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” (prayer taken from ‘Longing for God’ P 236)

So let’s perhaps abandon the fast food and the instant coffee, even for a day, and take time to realise that God’s not in as much of a hurry as we are but is wanting and working to shape us into the image of His Son, moulding us as the potter moulds the clay, breathing life into us even in the tedium of dailiness, where not much seems to happen and growth is infinitesimal. Sit down with a real cup of coffee and let God’s thoughts and ways percolate your soul…

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The ongoing saga of the chilli plants continues. Having reaped a rich harvest of chillies from Mummy & Daddy plants, we were not exactly sure what to expect next. Did the plants then wither and die? Would they produce more chillies? Would they flower again next year or were they one-hit-wonders, so to speak? This whole business of growing things successfully is so new to our household that we were a little bemused.

Meanwhile, Runty, our little plant who had appeared to give up on life, continues to grow. From where I sit at the computer, I can clearly see him peeping over the soil box, where once he had been so small as to be invisible from this vantage point. He clearly has a long way to go before he produces chillies, but he is still flourishing, living proof that growth is personal and its rate cannot necessarily be predicted. Quite why this third plant is so slow and small compared to the other two, when all were planted at the same time and have been exposed to the same soil, water and light is beyond me, but I am reminded that individual growth cannot be measured by comparisons against others. We need to rejoice in all individual growth, secure in the fact that it is God who makes us grow and He is in control of all growth.

Then, last week, we noticed new flowers growing on both of the larger plants. It seems that they haven’t given up on producing chillies yet by any means! The buds and then the flowers are the first signs that chillies will soon be on the way again. It seems chilli plants can receive a second wind!

Micah 7:8 says ‘Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.’ There are many times in life when we fall, when we stumble, when we fail. The temptation at those times is to write ourselves or others off, to remain on the ground, defeated. Sometimes we have fallen because of pride (1 Cor 10:12 reminds us that if we think we’re standing firm, we have to be careful we don’t fall); sometimes sin has tripped us up and we are left wounded and winded on the ground. That is not the whole story, however. God is able to pick us up again and help us to rise. He is the God of second chances… and third and fourth ones too.

If we’re in that place of having fallen, we can declare over despair that Jesus is the hope of the world and we can rise again.

‘No surrender, no retreat.

We are free and we’re redeemed.

We will declare over despair

You are the hope.’ (‘More Than Conquerors’, Rend Collective)

Stephen spoke last night from Eph 6:18 about how prayer is our essential kitbag. He likes collecting new tools, but tools ideally need to be stored safely.

When we store things, we can use different kinds of bag: a paper bag, for example (but then when it rains, the bag disintegrates and the contents are no longer protected) or a plastic bag (more resilient than a paper bag, but only able to support a certain weight.) A kitbag needs to be strong, like the ones issued by the army, and durable, able to carry heavy loads.

The tools we need for the Christian life are many and varied, often listed as the ‘armour of God‘ in Eph 6:12-18. Prayer is the vital carrier of victory in all situations, however; an essential and integral part of our lives. There can be many stumbling-blocks to prayer, however:

1) Our lives can be so busy and chaotic that we struggle to find time to pray. Often we are trying to solve problems ourselves and putting all our time and energy into that, rather than praying about these situations.

2) Sometimes our hearts are cold and we are discouraged because when we pray, our thoughts wander or we do not have the right words. Often, we do not know what to pray for or how we should pray: we wish God would just tell us what to do rather than leaving us to pray through the many complex decisions of life! We may wonder if we are praying with an open mind or weighing the options accurately. The good news is that when we do not know what to pray for or how to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us in accordance with God’s will. (Rom 8:26-27) He helps us in our weaknesses and helps us to persevere.

Prayer is the place where we reveal our hearts to God and allow Him to speak into situations and direct our lives. It’s the absolute essential of our everyday living and must be nurtured if we are to grow spiritually.

The ‘speaking and listening’ components in language exams are vital for a developing understanding of language. Long before we learn to read and write, we learn to listen and speak. When we learn a foreign language, we often try to simulate situations which are going to happen in real life and prepare students for conversation. Such role plays may focus on going to a shop to buy something or what to say when trying to reserve accommodation at a hotel, for example.

The problem we face is that conversation is spontaneous and cannot be meticulously rehearsed. If you go into a boulangerie in France to buy your baguette and the shop has run out of baguettes, the helpful assistant will try to offer something else to you… but if you have only learned your set phrase and standard reply, that will not help you to participate in further conversation! Similarly, we often try to prepare for conversations in the real world by rehearsing what we are going to say and imagining how the other person will respond… only to find our carefully practised dialogues disappearing as the other person responds in a completely unexpected fashion.

So often, real-life conversations (with people and with God) look either like this:

… or like this:

We are often much better at speaking than we are at listening. Often, when we listen, we hear something other than what the person has said: our own ideas, preconceptions, upbringing and temperament can shape what we hear far beyond the actual words that are said. Tone of voice, facial expressions, body language all contribute to conversation.

When it comes to prayer, we need to be real with God and speak honestly with Him, but we also need to listen for that gentle whisper, that inner nudge, the voice of the Shepherd leading His sheep. Everyday prayer has to have both these elements of speaking and listening, of hearing God’s voice and responding to that voice. Our part is to come regularly and honestly before God, setting time aside, realising that if we do not make this our habit, it will not happen accidentally of its own accord. Our part is to sit in His presence, not rushing away, listening carefully for the gentle whisper as well as the rap on the knuckles! God is eager to speak with us and to walk with us, even as He did with Adam in the cool of the evening in the Garden of Eden. Our part is to come before Him daily: on our own, with others, praying in the Spirit on all occasions (Eph 6:18) and praying continually. (1 Thess 5:17)