Celebrations this week…

This week, I’ve celebrated that our boys are growing up in an imperfect country that embraces change and challenge and music and diversity and lush, harsh beauty and nation building and forgiveness and hope. We’re teaching South African poetry to our Form 4 boys at St Alban’s, and it’s made me realise again that brave, hurting South Africans of every race have travelled socio-political light years in a matter of difficult, dangerous decades. And it’s not for nothing that we’re in this time, in this place.

I’ve celebrated that Murray and Toby rode an awesome Sani2C and came back all in one piece, having conquered the escarpment and survived the portable ablutions.

I’ve celebrated that Scott can see me on the other side of a room. I still sometimes get a bit of a fright when I realise he’s watching me, and saying things to me with his quiet, enormous eyes. J

I’ve celebrated Cameron’s questions. The other day we were listening to Matt and Beth Redman’s worship song, Blessed be your name:

Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful

Where Your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name when I'm found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise

And when the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me

When the world's all as it should be

Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name

You give and take away

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord, blessed be Your name

Cam asked me what the song was about, and then questioned me further, ‘Is life good or difficult?’ Later, requesting a top-up of hot bath water, he asked, ‘Why do hot things cool down?’ He constantly forces me to reassess and reinforce my beliefs about God, life and the universe.

I’ve celebrated, again, and again, and again, that when the sun splashes up and orange over the city, God’s mercies are brand new, even when we are shattered after a night of splintered sleep and mixing midnight bottles of formula and changing little wet pyjamas… There’s always grace for the day.

I’ve celebrated that at the bottom of our street there is a pavement café and a bakery that sells chocolate croissants and coffee and a second hand bookshop where you could lose yourself. It just makes me really, really happy. J