Preaching with a purpose

I have just been asked to help out with piano playing for a little group of Mums and toddlers who enjoy exploring music and movement together. Today I went along to watch what happened. First there was time for the children to enjoy the toy box, while the Mums chatted and had coffee if they liked. After about 20 minutes the music session began. First there was a song for putting away the toys. This was done very successfully, part of a natural routine. There was a music box to open and inside were toy animals. We all sang, "Old Macdonald had a farm" and joined in the noises for all the different animals. We had a song about the rainbow and the children were given different coloured sciffon scarves to wave around. Soon it was time for the goodbye song. It was a time for Mums and tots to socialize. I believe I will enjoy being involved in this myself. I get to look at the music and words on Monday and then I will jump in with both feet next Thursday. I have played f...

You might like to read the poems I wrote last October. The titles of some of the poems are:- Bare tree, Travelling, Success, The bucket list. Prepare to have your conscience nudged if you read that last one. I really enjoyed writing a poem each day last year. Discipline is a wonderful thing and after all the more practice we have at something the better we get. Is there something you enjoy but you are just not doing it ? Set yourself a challenge to do it often and see how you improve. Here is the link to my October poetry page. A Poem For Every Day In October

Just as you can inherit various illnesses from your parents so you not only can, but do inherit sin. Nobody likes to be called a sinner, but I'm afraid that is what we all are. Since Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with have all, without fail, inherited sin. Sin is rebellion against God. Just to show I'm not getting at you, just wanting to help you, I know I am a sinner. I had a conversion experience at seven years old. I grew up in the church and was taught the right way to go. At 51 I went against God's law and left my husband for another man. In theory, before that I believed I was a sinner, after I knew it in a deeper way, but also experienced God's forgiveness even in the middle of disobeying. I believe he was teaching me a vital lesson that although I was a christian I was also still a sinner and I must not look down on anyone else. So why was God forgiving me ? From the age of seven I had put...

It can be tempting to live life all the time on the net. You can't see the other person's body language and they can't see yours. You can read their posts in any sort of tone of voice you choose and react accordingly. Best of all you can cut them out of your life at a moment's notice. It's hard work to have a real life relationship with real live people. Sometimes you hurt one another, but what you learn in those circumstances is invaluable. Life isn't meant to be easy. We are not here just to enjoy ourselves, we are here to learn from our mistakes. We are here to grow and learn to love God and man. It is possible to have meaningful contact on line and often the people involved eventually want to meet one another for real.Click below to see my advice on how to make friends. Making Friends and Keeping Them

I am 64 and live in Devon, England. I have just passed a course to become a Local Preacher with the Methodist Church. I won't be completely accredited until a service on October 23rd this year. You can read all about how to become a preacher in the first link below and in the next what it was like for me to have Christmas as a child . Perhaps you wonder about all the things I say here on my blog. Reading about my life may help you to see where I am coming from. I really enjoy writing my blog each day and hope it is useful to you folks out there in U.S.A., Russia. Germany , Latvia, Australia and many more places. I would love you to comment and let me know how much you love or hate my blog. Come on let's get to know each other. How to become a Preacher My Christmas Story

Helping another person seems like a good thing to do, but some helping does more harm than good. If you are forever doing something for a friend and never letting them get to grips with it themselves you are making them dependent on you. That might give you a pleasant feeling, but it is really not helping at all.These folk who ask for our help may enjoy being a victim and some of us are wired up to play the game. If your friend/husband/daughter,asks for your help and you think they are perfectly capable of coping with the task in question, encourage them to do it themselves. Why should you be burdened down with the world's problems. Sometimes the victim is playing a game. They ask for your help in a helpless kind of way and then turn on you, becoming the perecutor and making you the victim. Over the years I have learnt to break out of this triangle and say "no" when my help is not really needed. I had twenty years sortiing out how to say "no" to an aged...

Make them into parents. The first time parent must be completely knocked sideways when they are first left alone with their little bundle of joy. Poor little thing is often a bundle of misery. He must be bewildered to find he is out of the cosy womb and left in the hands of novices. The parents meanwhile have to forgo regular sleep and keep their thoughts trained on the needs of the infant. Hobbies have to be forgotten and money spent on the child, not the latest luxury. It's great to have a child, but wow, what a steep learning curve.