I started the morning serving coffee to the plumbers that we had back at the house. I like to make them feel at home and let them know I'm glad to have them there: so that they begin to think that this is somewhere good for them to do their work and want to come again.
Little things - like coffee, tea and biscuits - they are, I think, important: a warm and smiling welcome at the door: and gratitude as well, and interest in their work. The little things in life. They matter.
A lot of the tasks that need to be done are pretty much like that as well. Little things, which easily get ignored. Forms to be filled in, for one thing. That also took a bit of time this morning: a form in relation to the student who'd been 'placed' with us last year.
Little things - like coffee, tea and biscuits - they are, I think, important: a warm and smiling welcome at the door: and gratitude as well, and interest in their work. The little things in life. They matter.
A lot of the tasks that need to be done are pretty much like that as well. Little things, which easily get ignored. Forms to be filled in, for one thing. That also took a bit of time this morning: a form in relation to the student who'd been 'placed' with us last year.
This was a supervisor's "self-assessment" form, a voluntary thing I was being asked to fill in as part of a pilot scheme being run to see how best to help both students and their supervisors in the training which the placement's meant to give.
The sort of thing I could have done without. Easy to ignore. But a 'little thing', I came to see, which mattered much to those who want the best for those who are their charges at this time. And so, I gave it time and gave them back my best.
Later, having been up town to help my son get ready for his weekend break and having bussed myself back down and called on folk around the village Main Street, I thought that I could use a cup of tea. I went into the local tea-room, which I've often thought I should do a whole lot more. Support the local shops and all that sort of thing. A chance to stop and meet the staff and meet whoever else might be in there as well.
So I walked on in, all smiling and keen and eager to sit down and rest. To be met by two short words - "We're closed!"
It was a shock to the system, I have to say. Mid-afternoon, and a wide open door and folk sitting down at the table - but, sorry, the tea-room is closed! (I think the folk sitting down were the staff!). Maybe it's just a morning cup of tea-room...
But maybe, too, that's how our good news often seems to folk who're looking for refreshment in their lives, people who are thirsting for a life they've yet to find. They hear such life is open to us all: and yet that so-called 'open door' is often subtly closed to all but those 'insiders' who regard it as their own.
I wonder just how many 'little things' there are about our life as followers of Jesus Christ today which contradict the open-door which he himself has always been and means that we should be.
The sort of thing I could have done without. Easy to ignore. But a 'little thing', I came to see, which mattered much to those who want the best for those who are their charges at this time. And so, I gave it time and gave them back my best.
Later, having been up town to help my son get ready for his weekend break and having bussed myself back down and called on folk around the village Main Street, I thought that I could use a cup of tea. I went into the local tea-room, which I've often thought I should do a whole lot more. Support the local shops and all that sort of thing. A chance to stop and meet the staff and meet whoever else might be in there as well.
So I walked on in, all smiling and keen and eager to sit down and rest. To be met by two short words - "We're closed!"
It was a shock to the system, I have to say. Mid-afternoon, and a wide open door and folk sitting down at the table - but, sorry, the tea-room is closed! (I think the folk sitting down were the staff!). Maybe it's just a morning cup of tea-room...
But maybe, too, that's how our good news often seems to folk who're looking for refreshment in their lives, people who are thirsting for a life they've yet to find. They hear such life is open to us all: and yet that so-called 'open door' is often subtly closed to all but those 'insiders' who regard it as their own.
I wonder just how many 'little things' there are about our life as followers of Jesus Christ today which contradict the open-door which he himself has always been and means that we should be.
.1.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment