Easter

We spent Easter at Shaw corps in our division. It is a middle size corps, which has been without an officer since August. We led the service Good Friday and Easter Sunday and had a great time. The people are all very friendly, but also very spiritually open. They responded well to what we (that is Lisbeth!) had planned and Easter morning I actually enjoyed preaching for the first time while in the UK. (For those who find that difficult to understand, let me just say I once again have realised I so much prefer to preach to a congregation I know and live with, rather than going from place to place and do a bit of “hit and run” preaching).

Saturday we were free and it coincided with Spring arriving. The weather was fantastic and we quickly got our newly bought garden furniture assembled and just sat out in the garden and enjoyed life. Since then we have had many days with really nice weather, and so we have enjoyed coming home from the office and just going out into the garden, relaxing and enjoying the sunshine. God has been really good to us and we do enjoy our house and now also garden so much.

Of course a garden is also hard work. I realised, as I sat and observed Lisbeth, that you have to invest a lot of effort to keep a garden looking nice, but it certainly pays of. It is a reminder that “all by it self” does not mean, whether we are talking about a garden or a church, that we do not have to do anything, that we just sit back and get lazy, but rather that when we do what we ought to do, then God will do what only he can do, and then growth comes, all by it self.