January and being thirty

Keep going. It's January and everyone is wondering if anything will ever change and if this year is going to be the same as all the others or worse. Well I have it on good authority that this is the year for the best so far. So keep going.

Many of my friends are older (much older than me) and having watched many of them go through the trauma that is turning thirty I was interested to see how that would turn out for me. Well I want to tell anyone who is not yet at that wonderful age, that it's awesome! I spent some time considering whether to mark the occasion or let it just slip by and decided it was time to do it in style.

Some of my friends had had parties, some had had wild weekends camping and others just stayed home. I decided I wanted to have as many of the people that I love and that have contributed to me being me all in one place. I decided my house was not that place. I didn't want to worry about how everyone would fit in, or answering the door, or pouring drinks all night, or cleaning up afterwards. I didn't want to have it in a place that would make anyone feel out of place. I wanted everyone to have a fun time. I wanted music. I wanted dancing. I wanted my family. I wanted my friends from near and far.

I got everything I wanted and a whole lot more.

There were a few heartstrings missing, because of prior commitments, but almost every aspect of my life was represented in some way: family, school, Aberdeen Uni, ICC, Strathclyde Uni, Nebraska, New College, Galgael, St Paul's, Govan, Iona Community, Stepps, After8, the Dennistoun Massive, Vestry Mob/Sunday Night Club, Carberry Festival and beyond...

I loved it. People mixed. People danced and they certainly drank. I hope they had a good time. I had the best night of my life so far. Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate getting this far.

(And if you're reading - you know who you are, thanks for the dance.)

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the USA and tonight we celebrated early. Granted there was no American Football game to watch in the background (Go Huskers!), but it felt just right to be sharing a meal with friends and sharing the things we are thankful for. Sometimes it's difficult to say what we are thankful for because it cuts so deep with us, but that difficulty needs to be endured so that people might know who we really are.

I am thankful for:
the wonderful people in my life
Peppermint Hot Chocolate
laughter (it's like running on the inside - uses those muscles!)
sweet potato souffle - mmmmhmmmm yum
old friends reacquainted
old friends who never went anywhere (at least not far from my heart)
new friends
sunsets
music - that makes memories
the quietness of the early morning
sleep (which I am going to get now)
this list would be longer if it wasn't for the sleep thing....

Banquet...

So the parable of the banquet... (Luke 14:15-23) All those people were invited, but they came up with all kinds of excuses not to come. "Just got married." "Need to sort out my new oxen." "Just bought some new land and I need to check it over." I suppose these refusals to a banquet are quite ridiculous really!

I can think of lots of excuses myself not to go to places and enjoy myself. I'm too tired. I just want a night in by myself. I won't know anyone. New people might not like me. I'm too old. I'm not smart enough. I don't have the right clothes to wear. There are so many excuses that seem to be reason enough to not become part of a community. But they are ridiculous!

Compared to the worst that might happen, the best is also likely to happen. You might enjoy yourself. You might connect with another human being. It might lead to you throwing a banquet yourself. The walls that you built up, just might not be real. You might actually live life in all its fullness. There might be laughter and later there might be tears to share. I think it is worth accepting the invitation to fullness of life.

Go and say yes, or throw a party yourself and invite some people you might not normally talk to. They just might say yes, and if they say no, they just might be ridiculous!

Trees that will become a boat

This week there was a great escape to the woods to choose some larch trees, twenty in all, to become a new boat. It was honestly like walking on holy ground to walk around the woods discerning which tree might be best placed to become part of a boat. It's like going to an audition to see who will be selected to be in an orchestra. I wonder how the trees that weren't selected feel.

I have added a photo of one of the trees and a picture of a model boat like the one the tree will become (but a lot bigger...).

Favourites

Until this week I believed in favourites. Now I'm not so sure. I have been persuaded that favourites don't exist. That instead of thinking that because I enjoyed being around someone a lot that that made them my favourite - what it means is that I enjoy being round them. Favourite would imply that I like them best of all, when I actually like them for being them. So although I love sausages, they wouldn't be any good at trying to be cake. (Although those who tried my sausage cake may disagree...) They are only good at being sausages, and sometimes I want cake. So what's the point of being my favourite food, if on this one particular occasion I want cake? Therefore on the occasion I want cake - sausages being my favourite just wouldn't matter. And although "Mary Poppins" is my "favourite" movie, sometimes I want to watch "Team America". I just like "Mary Poppins" for being what it is - wonderful.

This makes for a whole reassessment of me giving myself a label of favourite. All it really means is that I'm liked differently for being myself. I'm unique - just like everybody else.

Intentionality

Apparently we can attach too many intentions to some thing that just happened. As a person who likes to notice things and evaluate their meaning this was a good reminder of that some things have no particular meaning attached to them. Meaningless I suppose. An example was given at a recent lecture I attended that shows dogs do it too...

In a house during winter a chunk of snow falls from the roof, the dog barks believing it to be a threat. It was only snow you tell the dog, but the dog knows there was more to it than that.

Cliques

Now someone said this week that "no one thinks they are in a clique, they just think they are in a group of friends".

So what is a clique? The dictionary says it's "small group of people with a common or shared interest who do not readily allow others to join". But is that really true? Do you know if you have excluded others. If you haven't deliberately set out to exclude others does that make you a clique? What if for safety or sanity you need to be in a clique? What if you have always been on the outside of everything and suddenly you find yourself with something you are preciously in the middle of? Should you get out because others are excluded, or should you hang onto it cause it's helping you to be real? A place where you can actually be the you you usually hide from the world.

Did Jesus and the disciples appear like a clique? I mean only 12 disciples, what if you were pals with one of them before they became a disciple and your pal suddenly has a group of people he does everything with, because it gives him life. Would you be upset that you weren't part of it, or let him go and be where he gains life? Do you feel of less worth because you can see that what they have now means more to them? Does it make you less inclined to have friends at all? Cause if you have friends, maybe you'll be called a clique?