Spring! A Seasonal update

Once again time has flown with very little obvious changes on this blog.  I always have high hopes for blogging and they never end in anything.  Oh well, it's time for my regular 3 monthly update.

I love spring.  I'll say it again.  I love Spring.  I know for many (Hubby included) Spring is an evil time of allergies, but for those of us unaffected by pollen, it is the most beautiful season.  I love Spring particularly in this house.  I have a theory that the most beautiful rosebush in the world just happens to live outside our front window.  I don't have any proof of it yet (having not quite managed to see all the rose bushes in all the world), but out of all the ones I've seen, ours is the best.  It is a deep red rose, full, with the most intoxicating blossom.  It's just started to go crazy, and I love bringing roses to friends.  It makes me smile every time I go past it.  This picture below is from another rose bush, not quite as beautiful as ours.  Just imagine a richer fuller bud, and a smell that is not too sweet and yet somehow still intoxicatingly strong.

http://www.mzephotos.com/gallery/roses/red-rose.html ]">© MzePhotos.com, Some Rights Reserved

And while Spring hasn't quite got to the steady, lovely temperatures I'm used to in Sydney, Melbourne's Spring is definitely moving from one warm day a week to a few more.

Life has been busy.  Ministry (both Church and Uni) has been a joy.  It was funny, I was at a wedding and catching up with an old friend.  This old friend is a psychologist, and we were discussing life and how often at our age and older- people start to be really dissatisfied with life.  They had all these dreams, these goals about life, and even when they achieve them, life never seems and glamorous and meaningful as they expected.  And this often leads to real disappointment with life.

In discussing this, I was thinking about my life.  I don't think my life is easy, and definitely this year, with church planting and moving and death of loved ones and the like, it has not been easy.  Often my life is difficult. But it is not empty or meaningless.  My life is rich and full of purpose.  And this is something I have been trying to appreciate more and more, realising this is a gift that not everyone shares.  It's not that every ones life doesn't have purpose, I believe under God we all do.  And its not that people who don't do ministry don't have meaningful jobs and lives- they definitely do!!!  But I get to see my life impacting others.  I get to see the Gospel go out.  My life's meaning is in my face.  And that is a gift.

Two weeks ago, my beloved Pa died.  It's a strange time.  Happy that he is with Jesus.  Sad that he is not with us and Nan.  Remembering and appreciating him.  Sad that what has happened to Tim (loosing all his Grandparents) will happen to me, and this is the start.  Thankful for Heaven.

So, I guess that is a brief update on my life.  I am hoping to blog more, and I have a plan!  The Geneva Push, a church planting network of which Tim and I are apart, are signing me on as a regular blogger.  The idea is that I will blog from the point of view of a church planters wife.  I'm really excited about this and hope it will be an encouragement to others who are either in my situation or planning to be.  It also might help me to blog more regularly.  For the purposes of that, I will be starting a new blog (I'll link it to here eventually), and my plan is to also post those posts on both our church website and on threeworlds.  That way I can still use this site for personal/silly/writing/non church planting related posts, but will also include a bit of church planting in the mix.

So, theoretically, you should be hearing more of me in the next few months :)

But I have said that before!
love B