variety

The school's been back this week.

It was good to be back. In fact, it seemed like an age since I'd last been there, though in fact it was barely two weeks.

The assembly first thing with the upper school.

Then along later on for the SU group. They were there in their numbers again. Maybe as many as 20 were out. It's a rushed 30 minutes that simply flies by. But a chance to get something across.

This time we were on about the body of Christ. All the different members. All the different people. How everyone has their part to play.

Lessons we're, all of us, always needing to learn and be reminded of.

Variety.

My days are full of variety!

Today's seen me spending a good deal of time in writing.

E-mails to all sorts of folk. And not the sort you can rattle off in a couple of thoughtless moments. Ones that take time.

And letters too. Letters take time. They're a work of art. At least, that's how I always view them. Words are sacred, holy things. And combining words is always a sacred task, a work of art.

They carry enormous weight. The weight of the burdens that lie on our hearts. And transposing those heart-felt emotions into words that are typed on a page is a task that's demanding and hard.

But I'm always aware of how letters like that can have a huge and a lasting effect. Generations down the line even.

My Mum kept a letter her grandfather wrote when she was a young teenage girl. A letter which really shaped the rest of her life. I don't think that's an exaggeration at all.

So, yes, the writing of letters is something which always takes time. It's Cistine Chapel Ceiling work, except it's all being done in words.

And I got thinking again that all that I use are a mere 26 characters (excluding punctuation marks, of course). And some of them not a lot.

But these little characters combined with creative care are sufficient to change the world.

They're all different. None of them really amounts in itself to much at all. But put them together in creative ways and ... well, they've got the potential to reach and to stir the hearts of who knows how many different generations over time.

Variety again.

And, as I say, my days are full of variety. All sorts of different, 'liitle' things, which in themselves perhaps don't really amount to much. But planned and combined aright, they can somehow begin to make a massive difference.

The little points of contact that we have with different folk are just like that.

An isolated, fleeting point of contact here and there - its impact is at best but fairly minimal.

But strung out over years, in a range of different settings, those little points of contact build relationship. And things begin to happen.

We had a lady today, for instance, who's been coming about the place for years. We even really think of her as part of the team she's around so much. She's thoughtful, kind, appreciative.

Today she was in to book a hall. And the chat just flowed. And before that long it was the Lord who was being talked about and the woman was in tears.

Which is what we pray each day. Not that people end in tears. But that people encounter the Lord.

Which sometimes results in tears.

Good tears. Necessary tears.

There was that sort of thing at night as well.

The pain of God's healing grace at work in a person's life.

The whole thing is very humbling. It's wonderful simply observing the Lord at work. And you never know what to expect there's such variety.

When I was in at the school for the SU group at lunchtime there today, I was making my way through the dining room to get to the class where it's held. When I got stopped by one of the boys.

How many times are you meant to pray a day? he asked. And in among the sausage, beans and, no, it wasn't chips I think, there we were discussing the nature of prayer.

And when did you start believing in Christianity? An interesting way of putting it. As if it was a set of solid doctrines we're committed to. Instead of a person.

I explained how and when it was that I started to get to know Jesus. And how I wished I'd started sooner. Because the whole of life's an adventure when lived with him.

Variety.

I'd better let you get on! he said. And got back to his sausage, beans and ... I think it was actually some sort of pasta that he had.

The varied culinary delights of school lunches.

I think my variety's better.