Dear Friends
Back to school! Too soon for some, not soon enough for others. But as we return, we bring with us experience and memories from the summer break with family, friends, and camps and wherever we have spent the time since we last met.
Our vacation was in the popular beach resort of Wildwood near Cape May. The biggest attraction for our children is always the sandy beach, for sandcastles and other excavations and water projects. Before wecould go into the ocean, Mum and Dad erected the tent. It provided us with home base, essential shade and somewhere to eat in safety from the marauding gulls. It also offered a quiet place to read, away from the glare of the unforgiving sun.
We are not sunbathers, so my tan is mostly from the neck up and the knees down. When the weather is not good for the beach, we normally head for Cape May Zoo and on at least one of the days, we like to visit Cape May for an evening meal and a stroll through the shopping precinct. There, we enjoy ice cream and the toffee/fudge shop.
It is always great to get away, but it’s also good to come back home to familiar surroundings; your own bed and a settled routine which includes everything from the food our bodies know, love and need, and to the set bedtimes for adults as well as children.
We thrive best when we have structure and routine in our lives. At work or school as well as at home. And into that routine we need to build activity which helps us to manage our lives including stresses and strains like going for a walk, spending time in the garden and or the gym. Without some of these safety valves, life becomes unmanageable.
Prayer is also part of that routine. It is the Christians vital breath and without it I struggle to maintain a healthy balance in my life, as I am sure you might. It is the essential ingredient to a healthy relationship with God. However, the pattern of our days is not always the same, so flexibility adds strength and resilience to our routines and helps us to achieve that desired balance in our lives.
To help us with that prayer routine, we have Our Daily Bread bible reading notes. I invite you to take one for yourself and perhaps a friend who might be able to use them. I use them every day as part of my daily discipline. Find a quiet place to listen to the voice of God in the silence. The still small voice of calm amid the storms of life will always give us what we need. And that is the beauty of God’s promise, whoever we are and whatever our needs, God is sufficient and will always welcome us home!
Pastor Cliff