wow! it’s warm! WAAARRRMMMMMNEEEESSSSS!
It is that temp at the moment.
For those of you who are not in Ireland at the moment, we are experiencing somewhat of a heatwave and it is wonderful. I love when you can throw open the doors and windows. Although we do have an issue with stray cats coming into our ground floor apartment. We’ve devised a sort of cat flap that keeps them out – I think 🙂
But I digress… yes – open doors and windows everywhere and the sounds of summer. Lawnmowers, music, kids playing, teenagers trying to impress each other. I’m very conscious of all that is going on outside and love the different sounds that come in. But I’m always quite conscious of what those outside can hear coming from our apartment.
We always pray together before our meals. Nothing elaborate or long. We just stop for 10 seconds to say something that amounts to – thanks for this God, we know it comes from you.
But… shame on me… I’m really conscious of the sound of us praying, making its way out the window. I shouldn’t be but I can’t help it. I’m not one to wince at the sound of my own voice – heaven forefend – but I can’t help worrying what others will think. It’s a terrible weakness I know.
But as I was pondering this. Doing my usual circle of worry and then feeling guilty for worrying, and then worrying… I remembered something that made me smile and gave me a bit of encouragement. When we lived in the UK we had a few nice summers when we had a lot of meals outside. This one afternoon, I was sitting just inside the back door cos the sun was way too hot to sit outside. The kids next door had made a tent out of chairs and a sheet and their mam brought them out some drinks and snacks. One of the kids shouted – “Hallelujah for my crisps”. They all laughed their heads off and another said,”Yes Lord, we thank you for orange squash”. They laughed again and shouted, “Amen.”
I remember laughing a lot too, trying not to let them hear me. Even though they were taking the mick and even though they didn’t mean it, I was glad that our thankfulness to God had made an impact on them. Even if it was a humorous one 🙂
In the story of Daniel in the Bible, he got into big trouble for refusing NOT to pray where people could hear him – it almost cos him his life. I think the least I can do is be laughed at for a bit. And who knows… maybe one day those kids will say it and mean it…!
Just another Christian woman... 
What does “taking the mick” mean? As you know I just found your blog and wanted to read another post. I loved this one about the cycle of worrying. I am working on a post right now about worry and how I believe most Christians have got it wrong. Your post feeds into that. I’d like to use your phrase “Doing my usual circle of worry and then feeling guilty for worrying, and then worrying if I might”—-. I will link to your blog.You should know however that I take the view that worry is only a problem when we DON’T take our worry to God. That it is “worry” , not “concern”, (the word Christians use because they think they will be criticized if they use the word worry) that prompts us to pray. We’ve made the concept of worry such a taboo that we’ve covered it up with lots of other words .Anyway, I’ve taken up way too much of your space twice now, so just let me know what you think.
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca
apologies for the delay in getting back to you. Thanks so much for popping in 😉
‘Taking the mick’ is mocking, but gentle mocking 😉
I hope I haven’t delayed you by my late response – go ahead and quote what ever you like.
Great to be connected 🙂