I love reading Next magazine. It is my treat each month. I have a bit of a magazine fetish you see. Anyway usually I love it but this month one of the articles really ticked me off. There is an article about Trelise Cooper and the point of it is to publicise the campaign against domestic violence which she is supporting through pyjamas which she has designed and which will be sold through Ezibuy. In the article the writer tries to show what a huge problem domstic violence is in New Zealand byt quoting the satistic that domestic violence costs the country over $1 billion each year. I find this really disgusting. You cannot put a price or cost on people's personal safety in their own home. If even one person was unsafe on their own home because of violence that would still be one too many, despite the fact that it woudln't 'cost' much. Statistics like this allow people to forget about the real people involved.

It also reminds me that the only way to make people take notice of an injustice or problem is to prove that has an economic impact. The same is true for enviromental sustainability and the like. If businesses see it as a way to increase profit and the reputation of their brand they want to be environmentally friendly. But maybe caring for people and the environment is of priceless value adn cannot be measured and maybe there are things which are bigger, more important and outside the economy and maybe the economy should serve people rather than determine the values of our society. So there!

It's a blue dome day. There is nothing like it. As I sit in my classroom typing I have a beautiful view of the sunshine streaming down and only a couple of small clouds seemingly stalled int eh sky. I love days like these. They are like therapy or a happy pill. On days like this spring is just around the corner and if ittakes a little longer to arrive winter doesn't feel that bad anyway.

A friend used to say to me that when she was woken up by her alarm, if the song on the radio was a good one then she would have a good day. In the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime the main character, who is a young boy with Aspergers, uses the colours of the cars he sees on the way to school to determine his mood and behaviour for the day. I am sure I am like that too.

This morning I slept in and loved waking up as the sun came up instead of in darkness and driving to work with the sun warming my face. A sunny day covers over a multitude of reasons why I could feel grumpy. It is not suprising that my spirits and the spritis of others are lifted by the weather since we are part of creation. The sun brings new life at this time of year and those who don't get enough tend to suffer from the winter blues.

Not that rain is always a problem either. It is life giving also and there is nothing like heavy rain on the roof while you are snuggled up in bed or a sudden downpour which drenches you and awakens the child within and reminds you that you are not the master of your environment and your life.

I gues what I am saying is that I love weatherr. It makes me feel alive adn reminds me that I am not the centre of the universe and there is definite reflief in that. If what I am and what I do is not always that important I have the freedom to experiment and make mistakes without the world colapsing around me. I guess it is the freedom of the ant!

This week at church I was really challenged by the sermon. It was about community and the way the work is often bandied around but that real community is often difficult to find. One of the ideas we were encouraged to consider was to operate from week to week using the principles of BELS.
Bless - try to be a blessing to others, in specific ways and not just for people in your church.
Eat - try to share food with people at least 3 times a week. This could include a coffee, not just a three course meal.
Learn - be open to learning something new each week.
Send - each week at church consciously send each other into the week as a light and hope to others.

I found these ideas really encouraging, especially since in my present state of mind it easy to become addicted to naval gazing. I am realising that I am quite an action atations person, at least at this time in my life. I want to see things happen and change and I don't want to just talk about it. The tricky thing is wandering where on earth the energy for all this hope will come from.

So God close the gap between what I hope for and what I feel I can do. Move me towards hope and reality and away from dispair and apathy.