a wide door

There's only so much you can do in a day.

Which means there are always choices to be made. I simply can't do everything I'd like to do - or all the things that other folk might think that I should do.

We all only get the 24 hours a day. And some of them go on sleep. (Albeit not enough!)

A year and a half ago I got the sense that the Lord really wanted to ratchet up a bit my time in the local school. That that should be a real priority.

So the likes of today there've been four different sets of involvement along at the school. Which occupied all of my time 'til mid-afternoon.

The assembly as usual to start with. P4-7. The theme, or the value for the month - imagination.

The head was sharing the dreams that he has for the school. It was good and riveting stuff. Not quite in the MLK, I-have-a-dream sort of league, but not far off.

It's good to share our dreams. And it made me ask myself if I could put in words the dreams I have myself. The dreams that God has given me.

For my life. For the work I'm called to do. For the chance that I have to be in at the school like this.

Well, that was the assembly. And right after that I had a meeting here to prepare for a morning we're going to be having with the children of Primary 7.

In about a couple of weeks.

It's a 90 minute session where the children will come to our halls. And we'll have the chance to lead them through an inter-active programme which will help them all appreciate what Christmas is about.

It's a programme prepared by Scripture Union and one of their es-team (Edinburgh Schools Team) workers was along to lead us through it all.

When I say 'us', there'll be about seven of us here who'll share in leading the morning. There are 77 children in all (I think) in the Primary 7 classes, so we need that amount of leaders. All of them really great with children.

It's a great opportunity - and it's wonderful that the school is more than happy for this sort of thing to be done. I guess it helps the teachers too. At that time of year not least.

And then after that there was the SU group along at the school again.

We started with them on Christmas today. We don't get long each Thursday. Half an hour at most.

So we figured we'd need a good few weeks to run over the Christmas story and we'd need to be starting today.

They're a good bunch of children and always so full of enthusiasm. It's great to see!

From there it was straight on into the first of a series of four different sessions I'll have with the Primary 6s. Working through with them, as part of the given curriculum, the life of Jesus.

I'd done it last year with the Primary 6s, and they wanted me back.

The Primary 6s are last year's Primary 5, of course. So I know them well, as I'd had the chance to work through with them all last year a 5-part course on Christianity.

They're a terrific year. Really lovely children. Well behaved, courteous, interested, keen. It's a pleasure to teach them all.

So today was the first of the four with them. On the birth of Jesus. Appropriately enough, with Christmas now looming large.

It's really most exciting having the chance to work through with them all just who this person was and is and why it is he's really revolutionised so many people's lives.

I have my dreams for what these times will lead to in their lives as well!

But all of that meant it was really 3pm before I was back and ready for anything else. One and a half parts of a three-part day were centred on the school.

That's what I mean by the choices I have to make. That's one and a half parts of a day when I might have been doing other things. Because there are loads of things to be done.

One of the early followers of Jesus once wrote that "a wide door for effective service has opened for me": and that's pretty much what it feels like for me with the school.

When you find a door being opened wide, I work on the basis you walk. You seize that opportunity and walk on in.

Because I guess the Lord himself has his dreams for all that may be accomplished by my walking right on in and being there at the school.