Last weekend I got to spend some time in my favourite place on the planet, Portstewart. I’ve spent a lot of time in Portstewart over the last few years; it’s a place that fills me with peace, that allows me grace to slow down, to slow, slow.
Slow.
Wendy wrote recently that maybe this will be the year of slow.
Maybe it will be.
[More photographs on flickr here.]
At the beginning of December I got to hear Muhammad Yunus give a lecture at Glasgow Caledonian university (notes here). The university recorded the lecture, and you can view it online here. If your interested in microfinance and social justice, it’s well worth a watch.
A few new years goals…
The finances thing is a big one for me. I really want to get to grips with it, figure out how to be wise with my money. I have no idea how it’s going to look yet, but a few years back I was inspired by Ryan & Holly, and now feels like the right time to really get a handle on it.
It’s that time of year when everyone is thinking about what’s ahead, and I’ve been enjoying reading the thoughts of people wiser than myself. There are a few of those thoughts that have been ruminating in my head…
“What am I working on that is BIG?” [Brad Lomenick]
“I will not settle with resolutions that only serve me.” [Kirsty Mac]
“The opportunity this year is bigger than ever: to lead change, to create a movement in a direction you want to go. While the rest of your world huddles and holds back, here’s a golden chance to use cheap media, available attention and great talent to make something that matters.” [Seth Godin]
What about you, what are you aiming for this year?
One of my Christmas presents this year was John Mayers album, Continuum. It’s a great album – of what I’ve heard of him so far, it’s definitely my favourite. I’ve been loving this particular song…
Is there anyone who
Ever remembers changing there mind from
The paint on a sign?
Is there anyone who really recalls
Ever breaking rank at all
For something someone yelled real loud one timeEveryone believes
In how they think it ought to be
Everyone believes
And they’re not going easilyBelief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching under water
You never can hit who you’re trying forSome need the exhibition
And some have to know they tried
It’s the chemical weapon
For the war that’s raging on insideEveryone believes
From emptiness to everything
Everyone believes
And no ones going quietlyWe’re never gonna win the world
We’re never gonna stop the war
We’re never gonna beat this
If belief is what we’re fighting forWhat puts a hundred thousand children in the sand
Belief can
Belief can
What puts the folded flag inside his mother’s hand
Belief can
Belief can[Belief – John Mayer]
Last year on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, mobile phone users around the world sent a record-breaking 43 billion text messages, 30% more than the previous year.
Source: Harvard Business Daily Stat
Inevitably, the networks will all screech to a halt around midnight as everyone desperately texts friends & family to welcome in the new year… It’s a somewhat mixed thing for me. In some ways a text at New Years seems a little predictable, a little unoriginal, a little impersonal (mass texts?!)… yet I still love getting some of them. And inevitably, I end up sending some.
I guess I wonder, how can I remember to value & love the people around me for the rest of the year too, not just at New Years? I’m always searching for new ways to convey my appreciation & gratitude to the people who make me who I am.
Your shout: What do you think of NY texts? How can we show gratitude year-round?
For the past few years, I’ve taken some time at the end of December to read back through my blog archives of the year. It’s an exercise that really helps me to remember things; to see the journey I’ve been over the course of a year. Here’s a few of my highlights from 2008… what a year it’s been!
Leaving university
Long weekend in Berlin with Sara, including Long Night At The Musuem
Surprising my friend Bekah in a coffeehouse in Chicago
Meeting the Cobalt Season & hearing them play live
Eating at Ed Debevics in Chicago again!
Spending time with the staff at Ebenezers in DC
Meeting Brian McLaren twice (once in DC in March, then in Glasgow in Dec)
Hearing John Sentamu speak at the liveit! conference in Mancherster
Spending a weekend in Glencoe celebrating Reubens 21st with friends
The incredible generosity of friends & strangers for my East Africa trip
My first paid photography job (Second Year Medic Ball, UoG)
A surprise birthday meal with the Aberdeen team in Kampala
Watching the birthday video my new Australian friends filmed for me
Shooting documentary photography around Uganda & Rwanda with FOL
White water rafting on the River Nile
My first Greenbelt festival
Getting to know the incredible people on the Christian Aid gap year
Getting to know some of the amazing staff of Christian Aid
Spending 2 weeks in the DR Congo visiting Christian Aid partners
Doing an engagement photoshoot for Lori & Connor
Exhibitions in London & Kinshasa featuring my DR Congo photos
I feel blessed beyond belief. I’m looking ahead to 2009 now, with a little trepidation yet a lot of excitement!
Another glimpse of the footage Jim & Steph shot while we were in the DRC…
I was flicking back through the notes on my phone the other day, and found some notes I made on an old Rob Bell podcast a few months ago. As I read back over them, I realised how appropriate they are for the here and now, when people are looking to new things in the future… Thought I’d post them here for you to have a look.
The way the story has been, is not how the story has to go.
An emphasis on what we already are.
The scriptures are all about remembering.
This day, these relationships, it’s all a gift.
There’s always a larger story going on than we choose to tell.
The continual pulling back to remember.
You’ve got everything you need.
The kingdom of god in the reality of the here & now.
When we always want it to be like the past, we have a hard time imagining that it could be different in the future.
Some things are really difficult, & sometimes those difficulties are an invitation to become more honest, humble, etc.
So what is your story inviting you to become in the days ahead? What do we need to remember? Which gifts do we need to be more grateful for? Thought-provoking questions for me as we head towards a new year.
Lee had a few of us round at his place last night; was lovely to meet his girlfriend Lisa & to catch up with some old friends…
God put on flesh & blood & moved into the neighborhood, and with it everything changed…
Whatever your worries,
whatever your battles,
whatever your joys,
whatever your heartaches,
whatever your finances,
whatever your beliefs,
everything changed with his birth.
There is hope,
love,
peace,
joy,
forgiveness,
grace.
A new dawn.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness –
on them a light has shined.”
[Isa 9:2]
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