LUSH Rave! (Plus other randoms)

Hello everyone! Firstly I have to mention, of course, last night's Olympic Opening Ceremony.

I'm not a big sports fan but I have to admit there's something about our country being made such a huge fuss of- and this is coming from someone with non- British parents! I was really touched by the thought, effort, creativity and utterly British humour that went into the spectacle, and though it doesn't happen all that often, I was truly proud to be a citizen of the UK. If I'd been wearing a hat at the time, I would have taken it off to the Queen for playing along with the Bond in the helicopter joke, and though Rowan Atkinson's antics kind of took away from the epicness that is Chariots of Fire, it was still pretty darn hilarious.

Anyway this post really has nothing to do with the Olympics but rather a bit of fan-girling over one of my favourite shops- the cosmetics store LUSH! Why do I love it so, you ask?

I'm more than happy to share it's awesomeness with you.

Read on...

Faith in Action

Today's post is something a little different. Last week my friend Adam mentioned how the tone of my blog has changed a lot since I have come home from uni- i.e. that it has become very work-related, which I suppose is inevitable since I can only write what I know. His remark made me realise though that I need to step away from that for a while. Work is important, but I don't want to harp on about it all the time, and I'm sure you all must be getting a bit bored of it too. So I set aside some time to plan some new topics, but these ideas are as yet only half formed, not the passionate convictions I have felt with some of my other posts- therefore I feel like these can wait until they are ready.

Yesterday morning my home church focused their service around a theme that has been very important to us as a church for the past four years- the development of our project with the charity we are supporting- Nehemiah Construction Ministries. I instantly knew that this was something that needed to be shared with others, so in today's blog post I aim to raise awareness of Nehemiah's work.

Before I continue, please be assured that this is not a request for financial support. It is a testament of real faith in action. It is an example of the seemingly impossible being made possible, and I hope that the story, condensed as it will be, will inspire you to dream big and aim high for God.

Photo Friday 20/07/2012 (AKA 15th July BEST DAY EVER)

I actually wrote this yesterday off sick from work (again! must be the air-con or something), and despite not feeling too bright it was actually nice to have a day to do nothing for once. Looking back at these photos of my fun day out last weekend definitely cheered me up a little!

This Photo Friday comes with a bit of a back-story. Ye have been warned.

How busy are we really?

If you ask the average British citizen how their day has been, chances are the answer will be short and to the point: ‘Busy’. We are a nation of busy people. A world of busy people, really- though our culture is considerably more hurried than others. Our lives can be so busy that we burn ourselves out with ‘doing’, becoming exhausted without really noticing because we’ve downed enough coffee to keep us awake for the next hour.

The fundamental question though is this- is busy a good thing?

The Art of Patience

Normally when I write a blog post it's because I've learned something from life, and not only do I want to see it written tangibly on the page so I can look back and reflect on it, I also want to share it with others. Recently I feel that my life has become extremely mundane, however, and I mostly feel like I don't have time to write, let alone anything to share. It's a far cry from the variety and excitement that comes with being a student. In Canterbury my life was often hard and challenging but it was never boring, and all the good things about it more than made up for the bad. Now, I have those home comforts I missed a lot when I was away, but the fun, the friends, the being involved in stuff I care about- all that has been put on hold for a while.

Truth be told, I'm missing it. But I know if I was back there part of me would always miss home. And that something I'm getting used to- the sad fact that we can't have everything we want all at once. I suppose if we did, we wouldn't appreciate it enough anyway.

I am fully aware that I should be very grateful for the job that I have when there are many who are struggling to find work. But it would be a lie to say that I'm enjoying it- again because it is such a huge contrast to the freedom student life offers. It's dull, it's repetitive, it's putting up with constant negativity from customers, and actually it's quite lonely. Normally I would hate to admit something like that, but there's no point to this post if I'm not honest. But when you realise that without the money you wouldn't be able to afford your accommodation next year, let alone living costs, your attitude has to change a bit. It could be a lot worse, it's true. And actually the humbling experience of gritting your teeth and getting on with something you hate can be a positive thing. I'm learning to accept that right now, I can't have it all, but I can gain some experience that will be valuable one day.

I'm sure I've written before about being content in every situation. It might have been easier to say back then, when I was at uni and some days were horrendous but others were so full of joy and laughter and outpourings of God's grace. Now sheer boredom and tiredness is making it a bit more difficult to maintain that joyful, thankful heart God calls us to have, but at least I know that when I have learnt how to keep that joy, I will have triumphed over another obstacle, and that's probably worth more than the money I'm earning.

Patience is indeed a virtue, as the old adage says, but it's only learnt through being forced to wait for things and to persevere when things are hard. People say that I seem very calm, but by nature, I'm not very patient. This year has been good for teaching me how to wait, though, and so will this job. On the days where I come home too tired even to think, it helps to concentrate on these positives. 


For the last two weeks I've felt like I had nothing I really wanted to write about, but today I realised that even this frustrating feeling is a valuable lesson learnt. You don't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.

I hope you've all had a good start to the week, but if not, try to keep smiling.

C.

Belated Photo (Sunday)!

So after another long and busy week at the office, I once again had to postpone posting anything- I did however find some time last weekend to take some photographs, and today had a few spare hours to sort them out. So here they are for your viewing pleasure- some more from Burghley House and Ferry Meadows. Hope you've all been well and that your Mondays get off to a good start!