BLESSINGS

Peace be with you -
enjoy God and his love...

40 Day Challenge Day 40

A whole 40 days! If you've been here since the beginning on the 11th of May - well done!

The journey isn't over though, for most of us it's just beginning. We need to find a way of ensuring we continue to try to bring our faith into the every day.
Most of us wonder how good we are as Christians - we might even worry about not being good enough - but what this blog was designed to do is to encourage us all to realise that the tiny steps we take are incredibly important. Some of those steps were obviously faith-related (such as reading the Bible) others not so much so (weeding, smiling at strangers, giving away chocolate bars!) but all are an equally valid response to our faith as it seeps through into the very core of our being.

Today, your last challenge is this: keep taking those small steps. Don't stop. Go back over these 40 if you would like to - create some new challenges for yourself and post them here to share with others, or drop a note to Revsbrown@aol.com

And print out this verse to keep with you to read whenever your faith gets wobbly.

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. (2Thess 3:16)

And remember... bloggy coffee in the Cathedral, tomorrow at 10.30.

40 Day Challenge DAY 39

In recents days you've pulled up weeds to get rid of what you don't need to carry and you've made room for the needs of others - why not do both today?

Make room in your wardrobe by sifting out the perfectly good clothes you haven't worn in years and put them into a charity shop so that others might get the benefit of them and even more might reap the benefit of the income your surplus-to-requirement outfits bring in.

You could do the same with all those things stored in the garage. And in the loft too...
Go on! Make a start!

40 Day Challenge Day 38

You've heard of black coffee, milky coffee, expresso, cappuccino - now try bloggy coffee (or tea)! Saturday 10.30am in the Cathedral!

Talking of a cuppa, buy a Fair Trade Tea or Coffee - or better stil, some Fair Trade chocolate - and say a prayer for those, so far away, who grew the beans.
Enjoy!

40 Day Challenge Day 37

Right! On the coffee front: Saturday morning 10.30am in the Cathedral. Donations of goodies welcome but I'm on a diet so don't make them too tempting!!

Today's challenge: Pull up a weed and as you do think of something in your own life you don't need to give space to...
No one is perfect. We've all done things we shouldn't have. We've all said things we regret and we've all experienced things we wish we hadn't. Could we let go of some of these things?
Maybe it's an unhelpful habit we should be weeding out... or character trait... or grudge?
Some weeds I know are easier to pull up than others - but those with the deepest roots, once pulled leave the greater room for other, more fruitful things to grow.
Weeding offers more breathing space.

40 Day Challenge Day 36

Just a few more days left. Maybe we should have a Blog Coffee date on Saturday to see who locally, has been following this?
For today however, read Mark 3:1-6.
Jesus wanted to help the man by healing him. He knew though that his every move was being watched and criticised and the injustice of that made him angry.
Anger is not normally an emotion we embrace because so often it's such a negative force - Jesus reminds us though, that sometimes anger is justified.
What are the things we should be getting angry about in our world today?
(And which should we set to one side?)

40 Day Challenge Day 35

These last few posts have been about being generous as God is generous.
You've been challenged to be generous with what you have and with your blessings - now be generous with your support.
I know today is Sunday so this may not be so easy, but try to eat today, food that is locally produced and enjoy the fruits of the Highlands and the fruits of Highlanders efforts!
Maybe this gives you the perfect excuse to eat out...?

40 Day Challenge Day 34

Let the generosity continue.
This time, be generous with your blessings. I'm not sure we realise the gift a blessing is - someone sneezes and without thinking the words "Bless you!" come rolling off our lips. A blessing is not a throw away line though. Today's challenge is to read to the births' column in the paper and to give thanks for each child, asking God's blessing on them and their family.
Deliberately ask for them to be blessed.
And remember, you can ask for other individuals... for a group of people, or a community, or even a whole nation to be blessed.
Just ask.

40 Day Challenge DAY 33

Less than a week left now - well done if you've been hanging in there since the start!
God is generous.
He has given us everything - including his own Son and he continues to give of himself.
Your task for today: see if you can reflect something of that generosity. Give up one of your cuppas today (or part of your lunch) and put the cost of that cuppa into a charity box of your choice.
And thanks for sharing!

CHILDREN IN WORSHIP WORKSHOP

Unfortunately this workshop scheduled for Sat 13th June and the concert in the Cathedral in the evening has had to be cancelled.
There may be another opportunity to explore how to meet children's spiritual needs later in the year.
Apologies to all. I'm disappointed too!

40 Day Challenge Day 32

This reading may sound familiar - that's because we started it back on Day 28!
Read Luke 7:37-50.
A story of contrast. The woman gave Jesus her full attention while Simon the Pharisee couldn't even be bothered being polite to him.
There are those we happily make time and room for and there are those we dismiss. Who do we overlook? Dismiss?
Be conscious of all those you come across today and your reaction to them.

40 Day Challenge DAY 31

This may sound a bit strange but it's easy!
Today I invite you to sniff the air - to smell the world around you.
See if you can smell the weather... smell the scent of your own home... smell the different smells in the shops you go to, in your workplace: country smells and town smells!
Even your family and friends smell (in the nicest possible way of course!) so smell them too.
Have fun with this one!

40 Day Challenge DAY 30

We're into the last 10 of these now.
How many drinks can you name? If you think of tea alone, you can come up with an enormously long list of different fruit teas, green teas, white teas and 'regular' teas - and then you go on to other hot drinks, cold drinks, fizzy and still.
We've even complicated plain water by bottling it and putting in or leaving out bubbles.
Today's task is simple enough - pour yourself a glass of tap water and enjoy it: giving thanks for how clean, clear and refreshing it is for body... and soul.

40 Day Challenge Day 29

A new day.
A new working week.
So why not try something new?
Why not try to let go of that grudge... that resentment... that memory eating away at you?
Make this a fresh start.
Jesus promises us many such starts, why not use one of them today?
Try loosening your grip aware that he's the one who can sort out what you can't...

40 Day Challenge Day 28

2 folk in 2 days in the same shop (different aisle!) suggested I should keep these going. Thanks for the encouragement!
Today's task is to read Luke 7:37-38 (remember google).
The woman washed Jesus feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
For once it's a story where Jesus is passive: where he receives... How do you think he felt about what the woman did?
How can you give Jesus some personal attention today.

40 Day Challenge DAY 27

It's not only people God invites us to look out for, but the whole of his creation. Today's task is, like the others that have gone before, it's not onerous but it is symbolic. Plant something in your garden or in a pot and care for it as God cares for you.
and if one plant isn't enough and you want to do your bit to save the rainforest why not check out http://frog.rainforestsos.org/

40 Day Challenge Day 26

Either walk, drive or just think your way along your street (or farm track!) and as you do, say a wee prayer for each household you pass.
Friendship involves being concerned for those around us - give thanks for those who are happy, ask for a blessing on those who are facing more troubled or difficult times. And don't just think of those you find it easy to get on with...

40 Day Challenge DAY 25

Bearing in mind yesterday's reading, exercise friendship and invite someone round for a cuppa - an old friend or a new friend, coffee or tea, it doesn't matter!

40 Day Challenge Day 24

Read through Luke 19:1-10. (google it)
The wee man, because of his dishonest, selfish and unscrupulous ways, was shunned by all those around him. Jesus though, gave him the time of day. More than that - he sat down with him and talked and listened. And Zac's life was completely turned around.
Who are the Zaccheus' among us?
The people others shun who may simply be looking for someone who'll befriend them?
Make room for those others push aside - and watch them blossom.

40 Day Challenge DAY 23

Quiz show hosts ask you to do it - and I want to do the same.
It's the sort of thing we can keep meaning to do but it can get squeezed out by our getting caught up in so many other things.
What am I talking about?
I want you to phone a friend. Someone you haven't talked to for ages. A friend at a distance perhaps. Catch up on their news. And enjoy!

40 Day Challenge Day 22

When he read the births, marriages and deaths my dad used to say "isn't it funny how everyone is born and dies in alphabetical order?"
Most of us buy a newspaper - today when you read yours, read the death notices and as you do, say a prayer for each of the families of those who have died. Their names will be mentioned in the notices.
It'll help those you don't even know.

40 Day Challenge DAY 21

Happy Pentecost - the day the Spirit came to move through God's people afresh and do a new thing.
You, however are doing an old thing! You're on your 21st day of 40 challenges to take God into the every day. Today your task is straightforward: tell someone you haven't already told, that you're doing these challenges -
and tell them why you're doing them.
And as it says in one of the Cathedral windows:
May God's Spirit protect you
and his power overshadow you...

40 Day Challenge Day 20

Half way there!
You still doing this?
Today I want you to read Matthew 14:22-33 (you know you can google it...) Peter nearly always brings a smile to my face. He's the disciple who acts then thinks. On this occasion he gets out the boat to try to walk on the water like Jesus - and he sinks!
I smile at Peter but really I'm jealous of his courage because at least he tries and in the trying manages to do the impossible even if it was only for a couple of steps.
Your challenge for today: Peter tried - think of one thing you could try to be more like Jesus?
Here's to the next 20 days!!

40 Day Challenge DAY 19

Too many words...
Instead, a very, very simple task today: find a flower and feel its petals.

40 Day Challenge DAY 18

It seems like we're always in a hurry. Too much of a hurry to make time and space for the spiritual.
But that spiritual isn't an add-on to life. It's central to it. Take something as simple as washing your hands. How many times a day do you do it? That simple act could become a trigger for thinking of the spiritual. Your challenge for today is this: each time you wash your hands today, think of what your hands have done... who or what they have held... what they've touched. See where those thoughts take you.

40 Day Challenge Day 17

One thing we're never short of is news.
In the papers, on radio or television, there's lots of it around and it's rarely good. Because there's so much of it, it's easy to skip over what it's saying - but the people involved in these news stories are real people, with real lives, real deaths, real tragedies.
Your task for today: take one news story and pray for those involved. For all those involved.
If it's a crime pray for the perpetrator as well as the victim(s) and their families. If it's an accident for the emergency services and police as well as those more directly involved - you get the picture! Don't let the volume of news there is leave you untouched.

40 Day Challenge DAY 16

Read John 5:1-9 (remember you can google it...)
Another healing story. This one talks of Jesus helping a paralysed man walk again. Notice how long the man's been lying by the pool waiting for that healing.
A mere 38 years!
Jesus asks him if he really wants to be healed. It sounds like a strange question but given that for 38 long years the man hasn't managed to find help to get into the water (although presumably someone has been feeding and cleaning and washing him) it's perhaps not such a daft question after all.
That man's story got me wondering about the unhealthy things each of us holds onto. What do we continue to do that we shouldn't - and don't do that we should?
Maybe this is the time to break an unhealthy habit. What do you think?

40 Day Challenge DAY 15

When the sun shines here in the north of Scotland it seems to lift everyone’s spirits. A smile can have the same effect. It can also be contagious. Today’s challenge is a simple one: smile at everyone, even complete strangers, and make their day.

You never know what people are facing as they go about their daily business. A smile could make a world of difference.

40 Day Challenge DAY 14

They say that if you do a thing for 10 days or more, it becomes a habit. Welcome to Day 14 of a new habit I hope you won't kick for at least another 26 days!
There are things that happen to us and around us that can end up giving us sleepless nights - either physically or metaphorically.
Today's task is this: create the opportunity to tell someone what it is that worries you. That can be something that worries you on a personal level, or something that worries you about the wider world.
And as you do, may you find a problem shared is a problem halved.
(And remember God is a good listener too.)

40 Day Challenge DAY 13

I have a confession to make.
I have at least 3 if not 5 years worth of Christmas cards still sitting, unposted, in my study. Given that it's about the only way I keep in touch with some people, it's pretty shocking. I know how much their annual news means to me and that doesn't help to make me feel any better.
Today's task: is there someone you've been meaning to drop a note to? Or send a card to? Then just get on and do it.
and Happy Christmas everyone!

40 Day Challenge DAY 12

Keep humming those hymns as you read: Luke 17:11-19 (again google it if it's easier).
10 people were fortunate enough to be healed by Jesus. Only one of the 10 however, bothered to go back to Jesus to say 'Thank you' to him. That got me wondering, how many people do we forget to thank? We don't mean to, but it's quite easy for those important wee words to be left unsaid. From the people who serve us in the shops and cafes we go to, to those closest to us, your task is to say 'thank you'.
And mean it.
And to notice the difference it makes.

40 Day Challenge DAY 11

How are you doing? Did you feed the birds and listen to them sing?
Well, now it's your turn! Your challenge for today: think of your favourite hymn (and why it's your favourite) and sing it all day!
Sing God's praise out loud or quietly - he doesn't mind!

40 Day Challenge DAY 10

Double figures - 10th day, wa hey!
"Say it with Flowers" was the slogan in the past if we wanted to let someone know we appreciated them. Nothing big. Nothing dramatic. Simply a bunch of flowers handpicked from the garden or flowershop.
Walking in the morning before writing this blog, I'm conscious of all the birds singing gaily at the tops of their voices at the start of each new day. Even the harsh caw of the crows seems to carry some sort of melody! I wondered how we might begin to show appreciation for the natural world around us and I realised that here too, something small and simple is what matters.
So... your task for today: put out some food for the birds and enjoy listening to them singing their thanks!

40 Day Challenge DAY 9

Yesterday you were asked to think about your childhood. How did you get on? Today your task is related... but different! I want you to look out some old photos - as old as you like - and as you reminisce and laugh and perhaps shed a tear remembering special people, places and times, I invite you to give thanks for them.
Rejoice in the family, friends and experiences that have helped shape you.

40 Day Challenge DAY 8

Give yourself 5 minutes peace with your favourite cuppa and read Matthew 18:1-5 (google it if it's easier) and see how much of your own childhood you can recall.
Then as you go about doing whatever you do, think about what you miss about those days and ask yourself, is there anything from back then that I should be recapturing now?
Jesus challenges us to become like little children so that we can enter the kingdom of heaven...

40 Day Challenge DAY 7

ok - so who feels that sometimes life can be more of the same old, same old? There's the old joke about how many church members does it take to change a lightbulb? Answer: none - who wants change?
The familiar is comfortable and that's true not just of churches but of our daily routines as individuals.
Today I want you to try something new. To be precise I want you to try a new food: something sweet or savoury, fruit or veg, or simply a new recipe - you choose, so long as you haven't tried it before.
The aim is to think of expanding our horizons because there's a whole world out there beyond ours.

40 Day Challenge DAY 6

The sixth day already! I wonder how many are still rising to these challenges and how many have already given up?!
In the faith that there might be someone still tuning in: a new task for you today and it's this: see how many people you can say "How are you?" to and actually wait for their reply.
Too many of us seem to be in too much of a hurry these days to give people even just a few minutes of our time. Don't rush on past today. Stop, talk and listen.

40 Day Challenge DAY 5

The power Jesus showed in calming the storm, is a power he uses to forgive. Today's challenge is to believe that and to do this: forgive yourself. Start again. Right now.
This is a new day - let yourself off the hook and enjoy it! Leave the past in the past and whether it's starting that diet again, pushing aside that drink, letting go of mistakes or relationships, old scores, grudges or hurts, do it.
You now have a blank sheet.

40 Day Challenge DAY 4

Having given yourself some time and space over the last couple of days, do the same again today and sit down somewhere peaceful to read Mark 4:35-41. Having read it, then close your eyes and imagine you are on the boat... take time to put yourself in the disciples' sandals. How does it feel when the waves crash? And why is it that what Jesus does frightens you? Post your thoughts if you'd like.

40 Day Challenge Day 3

2 down only 38 to go!
Hands up those of you who enjoyed yesterday's silence? Today's challenge aims to build on that. Your task for today is this: take a walk and enjoy who you meet, what you see and what you hear. It's up to you how long you walk for and when you take that walk. Why not try walking in the early morning to commune with nature and set up the day? Or at lunch time to take time away from a busy schedule of 'to do's'? Or why not arrange to walk with friends in the early evening? It's over to you.

40 Day Challenge DAY 2

Hopefully making someone else's day yesterday, made them and you feel good and reminded you of God's generosity. Now for a little time for yourself. Today's challenge is this: switch off the television and the radio and sit down to enjoy the silence. I'm not sure we listen to the world around us as often as we might - bathe in the warmth and depth of that silence.

40 Day Challenge DAY 1

So... here we go!
These challenges will be a mixture of simple activities and Bible readings - our faith infecting what we think, say and do.
For today: Buy your favourite chocolate bar.... and then give it to someone else. And think of God's generosity. Blessings upon you.

-1 day to go!

Today's sermon is important when it comes to setting the scene for the next 40 days worth of challenges. You can hear it by going to www.dornoch-cathedral.com and then clicking on the 'worship' tag. On that page you'll find a wee audio download which is posted on a Monday but sometimes by Sunday night (thank you David our 'sound' man and Chris at Pelorus Marketing Solutions).
The winds that have been battering the Highlands for the last few days have died down dramatically today, leaving room for the wind of the Spirit to blow through our lives...?

-2 days to go

Here I am, an old lady trying to learn to blog. Under my children's supervision and with their scornful laughter ringing in my ears, I make this first post.

The hope is that from Monday onwards (11th May) there will be a challenge offered for the following 40 days: a very simple one in response to a sermon to be preached tomorrow. These daily challenges shouldn't take up too much time but will, hopefully, be thought-provoking and a tad inspirational - otherwise I'll have failed!

I look forward to you reading more and perhaps even rising to the challenge of going deeper in the faith.