Sunday 3rd May - Community support and encouragement

In the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 24-25, St Paul says;

And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another... 

This is one of the very few Bible verses that I can sort of quote with Chapter and verse, because our mothers and toddlers group at church that I used to go to way back when my children were toddlers was called, confusingly to newcomers, '10:25' after this verse. I say confusingly, because we actually met at 10, but once you knew the reason why it all made perfect sense.

I suppose we tried to do a bit of Bible study in alternate weeks, and did something else on the other weeks, but the Bible study bit was always being derailed; no-one could remember who had The Book, or the person who was meant to be leading had forgotton The Book or was away, or someone started sharing a great recipe for carrot cake or asked urgent questions as to where someone had bought that dress/cardigan/shirt. 

The main thing, most important thing, I would say, about our group was that we all propped each other up as we lurched from catastrophe, to crisis, to total overload and exhaustion, as mothers of toddlers.

My current home group, over thirty years later, does the same. We pool our knowledge, offer practical assistance and promise to pray for each other.

And I reckon the blogging community that I have found myself in does the same; we might not ever meet each other in person, but I think we do a decent job of spurring each other on towards love and good deeds... and encourage each other as we navigate our very different lives and challenges.

And in that spirit, I hope Rustic Pumpkin won't mind me encouraging you to visit her site  and read her post for the 26th April, about taking on a challenge to walk every day in May to raise money for Parkinsons UK. The link to her gofundme page is there, and you can follow her progress.

She has inspired me to do more walking (I could hardly be doing less than I am at the moment 😒) and today I made it round to the post box to post a card to a friend. A there and back walk of just over half a mile, pretty good going for me. 

I'm not asking for personal sponsorship or anything, as I'm not committing myself any more than walking nearly every day, well, maybe several times a week is more realistic! But if you would like a post card, put your address in the comments and I'll send you one (but I won't publish your address) 

It will give me a reason for the walk. If I've already got your address, then a postcard will wing its way to you eventually... 

.....

I never thought I'd choose this piece to share - the famous (infamous?) Bach Prelude in C major from The Well Tempered Klavier, book 1, but it had a lovely video. There's no indication of who is playing the piano.