[Propertalk] Thoughts for the season

[Jayne Tite]

Thoughts for the season

It is many months since I last put finger to keys in terms of my life  
experiences.   This has been, in the main, because I have two  
incapacitated hands that makes typing a frustrating exercise.   The  
number of typing errors is considerable, as is the frustration of  
continually having to correct and retype words.  But it is time I  
let  my thoughts loose on you all, so I will bear up and have a go.

In a weeks time I undergo surgery on both hands, and for several  
weeks  I am going to need something like 6 hours a day home help, my  
home will not be my own, (I currently have three hours a week help,  
to prepare vegetables, and do other small chores that require the  
gripping of small objects, like opening cat food tins), and the  
thought of having to have someone dress me in the morning, and put me  
to bed at night is daunting, especially as it will totally disrupt my  
normal routine of going to bed in the early hours of the morning, and  
sleeping in late.

Then again there is food,  I like my food, but I like it the way I  
cook it, so to that end I have slowly, over the past few months,  
prepared and frozen enough meals to last four or five weeks, just  
tonight I put six meals of beef curry into  frozen hibernation.

The house work, washing, and ironing etc., being done by someone else  
I will happily accept, problem is that it will only be for a few  
weeks, and that will spoil me.  So I face the tribulations of my  
current life.

At times, over the past year, I have felt rather a fraud, in that I  
have been able to care for some 600 calves, from a week to four  
months old, and do other farm work that does not require the finer  
use of the fingers, and generally act as if there was little wrong.    
But when it comes to peeling a potato, holding a knife and fork,  
making a sandwich, opening a jar or a tin, forget it, I’m like a  
little child.    The amount of broken china has been considerable,  
and only dislike of them stopped me using paper plates and cups.

But with the end in sight I now feel as though I am rushing forward  
at ever increasing speed.  Arranging transport with ACC,  booking  
flights, buses and taxis for the big two days has left me thinking  
about what I have forgotten, and wondering if I will find myself  
marooned somewhere because  I have either left an unfilled gap, or  
booked for the wrong times.   It’s the kind of thing we come across  
in our everyday working life, especially if we are working to a  
deadline, or if we are planning a holiday that requires a strict  
itinerary.

When we come to the church year, we find the same pressures in the  
run up to the various seasons, and those organising the parish  
programme can be forgiven if, at times, they are caught pulling at  
their hair and talking to themselves.   Sitting in the pew we take  
much of this organisation for granted, giving little thought to the  
work that has gone on behind the scenes.

Now this can lead to an attitude of indifference as to how we support  
the services, study groups, and other programmes that  our leaders  
have organised.  That favourite programme on TV, or the bridge club,  
or the concert that we want to go to, can all take precedence over  
our faith commitments, and at such times we should all surely ask  
ourselves which is more important, satisfying our own *wants*, or  
accepting the responsibilities we have taken on as Christians.

We are on the cusp of entering Lent, with all the commitments that  
requires.   For a number of people there will be only lip service to  
things like fasting, prayer and preparation for Easter, for a smaller  
number there will be an effort made to live up to what is required of  
us, but in most parishes it will be but a few who try to immerse  
themselves  in the demands of the season, leaving those who have  
organised things wondering why they ever bother.

We expect our ministers to support us, yet all too often we fail, in  
vital areas, to support them and their efforts.  We fail in our duty  
as Christians to put our own desires aside, and to give ourselves to  
God.   At this time of year we follow the steps of our Lord as He  
travels the road to His agonising death, and His resurrection, yet we  
are not prepared to fully give our lives over to trying to understand  
the true meaning of all that happened over those four days from the  
Thursday to  the Sunday, true we go to Church and shout He is risen  
on the Sunday, but do we really cringe in despair on the Friday,  
following His steps to Calvary?   Do we show Christian joy in our  
secular lives on the Sunday, knowing that through His resurrection we  
are granted eternal life, and forgiveness?   	I suggest the answer is  
a resounding NO!   We much prefer to get on with our own mundane ways  
of living, keeping any feelings of faith inside the church walls.

We let others do our housework and cooking, never really giving a  
thought as to what our own part should be in what surely is an event  
for the whole Christian family together.   Maybe this year we can put  
aside our own desires, and reach out in support and love to those  
around us, giving thanks for the work of our ministers, and joining  
in in the programmes provided.

Jayne Tite ©
Gore.