So this week I’ve been humming this song ‘dumb ways to die’ it’s a game the kids are playing and is a safety advert for the metro. I also read a great book about kids finding out when they would die and how this affected them. It keeps playing on my mind as we are away as a family and keep telling the kids – be careful that’s dangerous- or we will assess the beach before taking them swimming and warn them about swimming when they’ve just eaten. The list goes on. Sometimes I feel that life is a series of mundane events and I long for the freedom to do something stupid! Swimming in the sea makes me feel more alive!
With this in mind I dragged everyone in the midday heat to a water park- maybe a midlife crisis but we had a lot of fun. Whilst we were there I was reminded of a picture I received in prayer of a water slide and was able to relate this to the same person at a critical time for them.
I go looking for adventure and god uses the mundane details of the design and width of the slide to help someone else! This is mainly how my interactions with god work though – we pray for an impossible seeming situation and I get a detailed seemingly ordinary picture which really resonates with the person it’s for. Once I prayed with a mum and her son, and received a picture of some sticks- which was something he always collected and meant a lot at the time. Another time I had a picture of some leaves before meeting a lovely gardener sweeping leaves at York Minster who has learning disabilities.
Then today this verse ‘teach us to number our days’ crops up and I thought I really must blog on this. Later on I was really sad to hear of the death of Mia my cousins daughter. She has been battling with a rare condition called Battens Disease. She was only 9, the same age as my son. I never got to meet her but I’ve seen how she’s inspired hundreds of people in her life through the work of charity Bounce for Batten .
I’m then reminded again of how important the day to day mundane things are which we all take for granted. I’m sure that’s what my family will miss- just having Mia with them day by day.
So while I’m treasuring moments in the sun, and family reunions. it’s also lovely to watch CBBC and sort out squabbles and talk about computer games.
Life is full of cliffs we could jump off and slides to explore and shallow pools too. It’s also full of frustration and arguments and general chores. But we are all so lucky to have these days. So whatever days we do have let’s all number them – the end of a terrible day, or the start of a fresh one- the beginning of term or the end of an era- it all counts to God. He is in and amongst us in the little things, he knows our steps and he treasures each one. Sometimes it’s just not that great today and tomorrow might be harder but we all have the ability to treasure each day we are given.
I don’t normally plug charities but if you would be interested to find out more about Mia and the charity Bounce for Batten, or are able to donate go to https://give.everydayhero.com/au/bounce4batten-1
In the meantime though if you have a spare prayer for Mia and her family please do include them.
Psalm 90;12 So teach us to number our days ,that we may gain a heart of wisdom .
inspiredinyork 