Seven Quick Takes: The Still Catching Up edition!

Except this week we are at Christy's blog because Kelly is busy sending out lots of messages asking us to look at her sexay photos (she said her site was hacked, or something) travelling!

1.

I realise, woefully, that in my last Quick Takes I was so out of the loop that I didn't even use the current, competition-winning Quick Takes logo which is certainly not that new. At least I realised we are at Christy's this week. Hi, Christy!

2.

I am also - spoiler alert - trying to get past the fact that I have only just learned the real understanding of the Biblical use of the phrase 'apple of my eye'. This phrase crops up in Shakespeare, and much earlier, but its use in the Bible is to translate a Hebrew phrase. Which doesn't so much mean apple, but "aperture at the centre of the eye", or pupil - so, to God, we are like the tiny reflected self we see in someone's pupil. I think. Except in Zechariah, where it means something else. Who knew? Obviously I'm relying on Wikipedia for my info, but when I conduct deep theological research, who knows, we may have a HIGHLY FASCINATING BLOG POST or even a sermon on our hands!

3.

Yes, you read that correctly, SERMON. (You did read the previous take, didn't you?) I have now preached two sermons at my beloved home church as part of testing my vocation to ordained ministry in the Church of England. The last one was on the devil, despite sensible people trying to dissuade me from the topic, the one before that, I can't even remember, but I hope someone in the congregation does, vaguely, in the back of their mind. Again, there is much more about me testing my vocation to tell....too much to report here.

4.

4thSister. Not yet able to sit still on trains or planes.

I also realised I completely forgot to publish my post about how all caught up I was in a post-survival mode, and now we've had 6 weeks off for the summer and I'm all running about frustrated and overwhemed again. I am still celebrating that my 2 year old no longer pulls at my dress and screams for "Wheels on Bus!". My dress still gets pulled though.

5.

Weighing heavily on the hearts and minds of many of us in the UK is the plight of refugees trying to escape diabolical circumstances. One of our newspapers, The Independent, posted the image of a young, dead, Syrian boy washed up on the seashore, and people have been shocked by this photo. I heard on late-night radio last night that the people who live in the area where the boy drowned are past being shocked, as this type of death is not an unusual occurrence for refugees trying to flee. A bit of a serious take this one, but please just pray about it if you would.

6.

Nowhere near as important but nevertheless causing me consternation is the fact that the new school shoes we bought for 1stSister, who is still ten, did not fit, and they were the same size as mine (UK size 5 - which is average for a female, miniscule if you are a Jennifer Fulwiler), So now her feet are LARGER than mine, as well as being so narrow the customer service team on the shoe website I use told me it's a physical impossibility that her feet measure that long and that narrow.

7.

Toothbrushes, I know you're in there!

To be fair, it's possible I didn't measure correctly, as there are many mistakes I carelessly make as I try to remain organised. I try not to get too fazed by them. Even when 3 electric toothbrushes get abandoned in our French holiday home. In this current back-to-school madness, I find myself frequently apologising for infractions and trying to bear the weight of all the things I have to do. Sometimes, like today, when saying Celtic Daily Prayer, a snippet of scripture with which I'm unfamiliar leaps out at me. So if, like me, it's a minor set of struggles or one of epic proportions, just remember, as 2 Timothy 2 reminded me today, that you don't need to worry about the boss having everything sorted out, because He's the big boss of everything, so neither do you need to worry about you yourself having everything sorted.