The beginnings of a strange summer

Summer began back in June with end of exam cake, shopping (window shopping at least), coffees (if i drank the stuff), movies, and other spontaneous plans. Quickly followed by moving back home, Cork CYIA team and the family holidays. I've had a blast of fun, family, fellowship, and sharing the good news. Up until now there hasn't been much strange about this summer. This summer unlike many before i have time, weeks of it and that all started monday past.

Of course me being me, I have made a to do list. Currently five tasks have the completed status five, and others are on going, or yet to begin. Having this amount of time is such a contrast from exam time studying. I was so blessed following exams to be able to spend time with friends. On monday i went into Belfast to catch up with a medic in the making. She admitted she missed medicine, being at uni, and the busyness of it all. At the time i though she was crazy, i was loving the break from all things academic, but following a week of housework and not much else, i agree, i'm tempted to get the books out, and that should not happen, not in the summer! Haha.

Last summer if you'd have asked me how i thought next summer would go, i would have told you i'll mainly be doing mission teams, a few at home and one foreign trip. I've had a heart for poverty since i remember and i had this sense that this summer would be the summer for something big, or maybe it was just a hope. I inquired about two trips, but in the end decided i couldn't. 

So i now have plenty of time at home, time that should be spent wisely. I want to do something that matters. Doing nothing annoys me, i can't handle it. I struggle with not having something to do, and yet after the busyness of first year, you'd think i'd enjoy rest. This week despite having very little in the diary, i've made myself pretty busy. The house has been dusted and hoovered, the washing and the ironing is done (all except for dad's shirts that is, mum is the only one with the skills for that job!) and the dinners have been cooked. I've been busy, but i've still been annoyed. Why? In part I missed the buzz of being part of something i believed was important, the buzz of being part of a passionate team and the buzz of believing that God could use us to touch a life, to change a live, to save a live. Doing the washing just didn't seem to matter so much. I missed being part of something that mattered. BOOM, my favourite friend frustration appears. I'm grumpier around the house, and Mum ask what's wrong?

Truth be told i somewhere along the way i thought i'd lost part of my purpose as a christian. 

If your from Queen's you've maybe been reading or even writing the posts in Uncover. Post 18 is read alongside Luke 10:25-42, where we find the story of the Good Samaritan, followed by Jesus' encounter with Mary and Martha. The writer of Post 18 did a great job tearing the truth from the stories, and pulling them together.

Do check it out: http://www.uncoverbelfast.com/1/post/2012/07/luke-1025-42-blog-18.html
I have a love (or hate) for sweeping statements. They can be bold, and brutally honest. This one is from the blog.

'Any relationship built on a need for approval will not last'

As soon as i read it, i questioned myself, am i looking for approval from God by doing? I know that i am only approved by God through Christ's righteous. It had touched something though. It and the blog touched those thoughts, of a lost purpose. But i haven't lost anything. My purpose is not gone or diminished because i'm not on team. My purpose always remains the same, as Presbyterians say 'Mans chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.' To enjoy time in His presence, being filled with His love. Out of His love all else will flow. I am not required to be on team to experience that. That can happen anywhere, with anyone, anytime. I can glorify God and enjoy Him here, in the ordinary, strange summer that lies ahead.

So here begins a strange summer, of continuing to fall in love with and be changed by my Saviour, my  Creator and my God.