This is the sort of thing that in most circumstances no one would know about.  But this is not most circumstances.
Everything we did yesterday was preparing to go to an event that I found out 30 minutes before that I had the day wrong.
We were happy the day started quietly. We were going to go to the shops to get flowers, then I had to set up our hall for church today.  After that was the event we were going to – or so I thought.  It was due to start at 3pm.
Merril and I talked and prayed and did a few things around the house in the morning.  It was a leisurely start to the day.  We had already gotten a few things to wear for the Australia Day BBQ we were going to.  Both of us got up in our gear.
Going to the shop was fairly uneventful.  Merril chose some nice flowers to take.  I cradled them on our way to setting up.
Both of us got into that.  The place was set up in around ½ an hour.  Merril waited in the air conditioning of the car while I went and said gedday to the Pastor who was in his room.
I was not surprised to learn later in the day that the kids church is starting this week. We set up their area too.  I did not realized that when we were setting up so it will mean an early start Sunday to set up their area.
Anyway it was only in saying gedday to the Pastor and him commenting on my Australia Day shirt that I found out the event was Monday and not Saturday.  While I was talking with him, I received a text from Merril in the car saying 6 minutes to start.
It was with tail between my legs I went to her and confessed my error and that we were going on Monday and not that day.  Merril was great and we had a good laugh.  We did wonder about the flowers we had bought.  All Merril said was “I’ve got myself some flowers.”
Oh well, we’ve had a practice run.  We should be good to go.

Today I think I’ll make a point of being grateful.  It almost seems to me that grumbling is the default position.  It’s incredible how in so many places grumbling prevails.  It can be the government, cost of living, neighbours, a take away meal.
That is not to say many situations are not less than ideal.  Yet in my mind it is probably a good thing to often dwell on what is good. It seems to be healthier.
Speaking of health, I am thankful for access to food I have. The sort of access to food available here puts me with in the top 1% of the world’s population.  I can wander down to the shops and get provisions.  Merril was away during the week and she prepared much for me to have.  We joked that “you won’t starve” knowing there are many take away joints in walking distance if it comes to it.
That sort of reminds me of other things I can be thankful for.  We live in a beautiful part of the world.  Less than 500 meters away we have parks with walking tracks.  I have been on them a couple of times this week and I love seeing families walking their dog or walkers intent on walking for exercise.  Or people just wandering and looking.
Or people like me going from a to b and looking around while listening to music.  I must confess when ever I see another in the distance I take off the earphones so I can say gedday.  I have heard it said wearing earphones is the universal languange that says; “I don’t want to talk to you.”  So for me it is like the best of both worlds.
I am thankful for my neighbours to.  Just recently that has been like a movable feast.  We now have fairly new people on the corner.  We have not met them yet but they wave back to us.  The guy that had been there for years passed.  I had gone to him when I had not seen him for a while and asked if he was ok.  At that point he was, but he was on the way out.  New people live there now.
We have new neighbours in the place adjoining us.  I think they moved in yesterday.  The previous owners have moved to Caloundra.
We also have new neighbours renting next door.  They are so quiet.  The family before them we called “the ferals.”  They were the noisiest, roughest neigbours we have ever had here.  We had been praying the right neighbours would inhabit the place.  We got to meet the kids and that family is so on our prayer radar now.
I reckon I could write pages and pages of what I am thankful for.  Truth be known we have got it pretty good, and it does not take a lot to find something to be thankful for.

It may be unoriginal but it has been inspiring.
I have been looking at various quotes on love.  I guess it all has to do with where I am at right now.  I have been thinking long and hard about purpose.  Yet I have found something that is liberating in its simplicity.
Purpose is less about what I do then who I am.  What I do natters for sure and may be the means through which purpose is outlived.  Yet I feel the answer to purpose is to be first and to do second.
By that I mean if I have a head full of knowledge and know how to do many things and do not do them, I feel I am like a lake without an outlet.  Sure I fill up big time but I benefit no one.  Life is not produced.  If on the other hand I have an outlet the knowledge I have flows out to others bringing life.
I have heard it said that this generation is tired of words and is looking for actions.  I feel I understand the frustration.  I hear many words from the well-meaning, but they are meaningless and powerless unless enacted.
Yesterday I was told of an act of kindness that caused the receiver to ask, “why are you the kindest person in the world?”  It was a simple act but its strength lay in the fact it was an act.
I used to find that with a friend of mine.  Acts of kindness were treated with suspicion as they were so rare that motives were questioned.  That is understandable if it is just what I am doing and not born of who I am.  The passage of time revealed who I am and it produced a freedom that was a joy.
The thing that I have found is that purpose is as simple as “love God and love man”.  It is by actions that is seen to be true or not in my life.  I do many and varied things.  They can be helpful but to me purpose is not born out of what I do, but who I am.  What I do comes second - an expression of who I am.