I didn’t until about last year when for some reason I no longer remember I thought it might be interesting to try. I had been on MySpace for years and had been quite addicted to it for a long time too and was afraid Facebook would be the same though at the same time I had also heard many bad things about Facebook. Things like viruses being installed on your computer and so on… not very comforting!

Anyway, I tried it out and within minutes of joining I was searching for (and found) so many of my old school friends - I was amazed! It seemed everybody was on there, everybody except me! I have now made contact with many people I hadn’t seen or heard from in over 10 years! Wow…

Little did I know that the real treat was yet to come.

I was casually using Facebook when I started getting invitations to all sorts of applications.  In the beginning it was a little confusing, but I now know that most, if not all, of these applications are some sort of program designed to advertise something, increase awareness about some cause, survey general public opinion on certain matters or something similar and of course they allow you to interact with your friends in various ways like sending gifts or pretty pictures and messages. Although the conpanies that create these applications use these handy little tools for their market research, I have found some applications to be extremely fun!

It seems I’m going through a phase - I love playing with virtual pets and gardens and even taking care of a virtual farm and restaurant! I can’t get enough of it. It might be because I’m allergic to real animals and plants, or that I don’t actually have a farm or restaurant or the fact that if it wasn’t virtual I’d never be able to have a real panda, whale, horse or bear! Whatever the reasons, I love it!

Are there any other fans out there?

Well, I’ll post some more details about each game and even some in-game pictures so you can see what it’s like. But now it’s time for bed. Back to work for me tomorrow!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter break and are settling back nicely into your daily routines.

I know there is a lot already written about it all over the web and even many books have been published on this very topic, but I’d like to let off some steam and share some amusing stories whenever they take place.

Unfortunately I’m afraid many of these posts may sound like rants, but don’t get me wrong, Italy is  beautiful country. The food is wonderful, the landscapes are breathtaking and the cities are… well, big, noisy and dirty just like any other big cities around the world, except in Italy they also have gorgeous architecture and history is more often than not preserved.

To give a little background to my situation: I spent most of my life living in Africa, South Africa to be precise, and loved living there. I really wanted to come to Italy though, I had been many times on holiday to visit family and friends and thought it was an amazing place - and most importantly, the food was delicious!

I could never anticipate the frustrations we would encounter, the red tape, their resistance to change and development, their terrible public service, their loudness and their vulgarity when speaking in everyday conversations - all very normal parts of daily life for the Italian, but quite shocking to the foreigner.

I could also never anticipate all the beautiful places I’d see and all the wonderful people I’d meet, all the even more delicious dishes I’d taste and the opportunities we would stumble upon.

Italy is not all good and it’s not all bad either. No place on earth is, I think. I’m going to be writing occasional, but hopefully regularly, posts about my experiences here and in Africa and how I feel about them. I hope you will find them interesting and amusing.

Till next time!

I need to do so much work. Really, I have so much work to do in my house and for my job that I don’t know where to start. Everywhere I turn there is chaos. Everything I aim to do gets left behind. I spend my time dreaming, day dreaming, and navigating the internet quite uselessly. It’s all fine to say “at least you’re getting your weekend break from work and doing what you want to do”, but the truth is I feel terrible about the rest of the work that is not being done. I wish it would jsut be done and over with so I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about writing a blog post, checking email or taking a walk in the garden. Today I’ve been out 3 times already, wandering semi-aimlessly around the place, in the drizzling rain at that.

I want to be out there, among the birds and the pitter patter of the raindrops. I don’t want to be here in the stuffy, dark house planning lessons and organising another busy weekly schedule. Not to mention timesheets and Student profile files that also need to be done since we’re nearing the end of the month.

I have a pile of work that could have already been done had I had just a little motivation to do any of it. The computer is my poison…

I’m sure if I didn’t have a computer (I actually have 2 here on my desk!) then I’d be the best homekeeper in town. I’d have nothing else to do on such a rainy day except washing and cleaning, ironing and packing, planning lessons and cooking food. I mean, that’s what I want to do, that’s who I want to be, but there is an urge inside of me every morning when I wake up… the urge to switch on the pc.

After that the rest of the day is a blur…

Where has my dicipline gone? Where is my motivation? My energy and my pride?

Wherever they’ve gone, I hope they return soon! Life is hectic during the week and if I cannot control my time better on the weekends I’m going to have such mountains of work to do that it’ll drive me to depression just thinking about it!

See, I know this problem well, I believe I’ve been here before. My life seems to go along in cycles always returning to this rut I now find myself in… one would think I’d learn from my mistakes?

I’m great at giving advice and telling people how to live, but don’t think I actually follow any of that advice, I know I should - I’d have less problems if I did.

Another of my problems, and possibly the mother of all the others, is that I no longer spend time daily in the Word. *gasp* It’s true. I think my soul is starving… it’s dehydrating… I see that deer longing for water like in that song. “As the deer panteth for the water so my soul longeth after You…” That must be what’s going on inside of me.

I’m a mess of gardening dreams, lesson plans, google searches, virtual pets and some other blank spaces where time just seems to disappear… And of course between all that I eat, a lot. And I don’t do any exercise at the moment, not regularly anyway. I might go cycling once a week and I walk a bit, but not anything to write home about. I really need to take better care of myself.

I know all the answers, eat less, exercise more - a healthy body = a healthy mind. I guess I should just do it. I have nothing to lose, except this fatigue and laziness and of course some excess fat around the middle.

I’ll probably gain much in mental clarity and attention span too. Just what the doctor ordered, right?

Come on then, lets get moving!

Pff… if only it were that easy………

THIS IS THE WORLD’S FIRST GLOBAL ELECTION, BETWEEN EARTH AND GLOBAL WARMING.

On March 28 you can VOTE EARTH by switching off your lights for one hour.
Or you can vote global warming by leaving your lights on.

The results of the election are being presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009. We want one billion votes for Earth, to tell world leaders that we have to take action against global warming.

The results of the election will be presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

Read all about it here and keep an eye on the countdown…

I love this time of year. It’s warm, but not hot. Cool, but not cold. Sunny, but not scorching. Breezy, but not windy. The weather seems to be just right!

Last year we had planted so many bulbs, plants, seeds and such that our garden was wild in the summer. All sorts of things grew and many strange and wonderful creatures came to visit too. We left all those bulbs in the soil over winter and they are starting to shoot out now. Many have been growing over the last few weeks and are flowering beautifully already - especially the Daffodils! And when I went out this morning I noticed our Tulips have huge bulbs too.  I can’t wait to see them open!

In addition we’ve bought some shrubs this year, hoping that they will grow large, flower a lot and live through next winter only to grow bigger and flower more again next year! Is that asking too much? :p I think that’s reasonable. Those once a year picking flowers are no good, once they’re done flowering the garden looks dead again.

Something that has grown wonderfully and survived winter in a superb way are the 2 creeping Roses. They are a peachy apricotty colour with reddish leaves and they are creeping up an archway. They’re about 3/4 of the way up now, I hope they will reach the top later this year. They are full-full-full of new shoots, lovely!

The Blueberry I wrote about last time seems to like the large pot we’ve put it in, it’s full of little white bell shaped flowers. They are so pretty! I hope it continues to thrive in that spot. My mom went out and bought a Raspberry as well. It has many shoots coming out around the base of the plant and they have grown nicely this week. It’s truely amazing seeing the progress the plants make over just a few days - it’s awesome!

We have also found signs that our grape vine, as small and dead as it looks, is actually still alive and will probably grow a little more this year. Wonderful news that is! Last year we bought this plant and it was beautiful, it had leaves and vines and it looked good. That was until the summer sun seemed to have scorched it to bits. The leaves all turned brown and the neighbourhood cats also used it’s base as a scratching post, so I guess it just went into hybernation mode. The leaves fell off and that was the end of it. We left it in the ground hoping it would somehow come back to life and this week we finally found what we were looking for - some little nodes on the stems! Looks like it’s going to sprout some new shoots this year, fantastic!

Mom had also bought 4 little Strawberry plants and put them in the corners of a square pot on the verandah. They are thriving and look so healthy. Last year we had 2 Strawberry plants too, but I think they made one Strawberry and died… that’s when the stray cat’s kittens decided those pots would make good sunbeds!

All in all I’m very excited and optimistic about this year’s garden. Even though many of the plants we planted last year probably released their seeds which will come up in strange and unexpected places among our newly planted shrubs, but that’s ok. Once they are identifyable we can start removing, replanting and regrouping them. I so wish I didn’t have to go away for a month - I’d like to stay here and witness the whole growing process. I seem to miss the best part when I’m away in the summer!

Last year mom took some wonderful photos while we were away so that we could also see how big the plants got and how colourful the garden was. She also harvested a lot of vegetables from the vegetable patch at the back of the house. But somehow it’s not as satisfying as walking around the garden myself and picking the lettuce leaves, tomatoes and basil myself.

The only consolation is that I miss the scorching Italian summer sun!

I hope to get some sort of photo camera soon so that I can record all the beautiful progress in the garden and share it here with you.

Till then, I hope I have painted a pretty enough picture with my words.

How’s your garden growing?

My regular readers (who, if still around after my long absense, deserve a medal for not unsubscribing and giving up on me) know that my camera stopped working last summer while I was on my very first trip to the UK. That lovely little Canon IXUXi was the best camera I’d ever had. Point, shoot, perfect!

Now I’m getting withdrawel symptoms, I miss taking photos. I miss sharing all the beauty that springtime brings. I miss playing with the photos on digital image editing tools and creating funny or inspiring digital cards to share with others.

I have spent a little time on Flickr again this weekend, just to see what I’ve been missing all this time I’ve been “offline” only to find that my Pro account has expired and now most of my photos won’t be visible anymore! That means that my poor blogs are going to be in an even less colourful state than they have been since my IXUS died!

Right now is not a very good period for spending money on unnecessary things - and unfortunately my flickr account falls under that category at this time. But one good thing that came out of my visit to Flickr was that I’ve found the camera I want to buy next. Unfortunately it costs a lot of money and I’ll need some help to get it if I plan to get it before my next working holiday in the UK…

It’s the not-so-good-looking-but-oh-so-highly-rated EOS Digital Rebel XTi. It looks like a big plasticky monster of a camera, but apparently it’s quite small. It’s currently rated number 1 Canon camera out of 166! That’s good enough for me. Does anybody have one of these? I’d love to know your opinion on it.

Scroll down on this page to browse some of the photos taken with this machine, they are simply amazing!

This is one of my favourite shots: Miner Bee, by Dalantech

I’m not quite sure how long it will take to save up for a camera like this, but I think it will be well worth it. I haven’t been so excited about a gadget in all my life! I think I’ll be over the moon the day I buy it.

What about a different camera?

Well, there are so many out there, I’m interested in macro shots - getting really close up like in that bee shot I linked to above and using various focusing and zooming techniques, I think it’s time I upgrade to a DSLR!

This weekend I went cycling too. I hadn’t been cycling in years, literally! We also planted some young plants and seeds. We even got a Blueberry and some strawberry plants - I can see some Blueberry muffins in the near future! Unfortunately my Peach tree seems to have died. I was hoping it was just slow in producing fruit and that this year, being it’s second year, it would produce fruit, but no such luck, it’s all dry and hasn’t had a leaf since we got it.

We decided to buy already flowering plants this year instead of getting seeds and bulbs like we did last year. Impatience is a terrible thing! I must confess though, the garden is looking lovely already and there are only a few plants in it at the moment - the few flowers really do make a difference. In the meantime the bulbs are shooting their bright green leaves out of the soil now and we already have a few flowers on some of them!

I hope all of last year’s bulbs (we planted over 400 during spring last year!!) will come out in abundance and multiply this year. It should make a beautiful show. One thing I have noticed is that the Tulips which stay in the soil during winter seem to be much smaller than the ones which stay in the greenhouse during winter - they grew really tall last year! But I’m sure the smaller ones will be just as pretty!

We decided to plant low flowering plants, ground covers and shrubs this year. Last year was all about tall picking flowers and after the summer rains everything was lying on the ground and looking terribly messy. Sure, they attracted tons of fascinating insects and were beautiful up close, but overall the garden was a mess. This year I hope to create a neater effect with low plants and borders and create some height with the occasional shrub, fruit tree or Rose bush.

We have also started planting in the vegetable garden. Unfortunately my camera is not working so I cannot take any photos yet. Some of the beds have been rearranged as well. We have celery, lettuce, chard, chives and sage growing at the moment. I have also planted some chili pepper seeds and am waiting for those to shoot up! Soon we will plant some more.

Last year provided us with a great harvest of lettuce, tomatoes, beans, chard, sage, basil and zucchini.

I hope this year will be just as productive!

Well, I’m going to take a walk in the garden now… care to join me?

Listening to the ipod definitely helped me not to notice how hard I was working though! :)

I’d like to share these lyrics with you today. They really touched my heart and explain just how I’ve been feeling lately.

Your Love, by Rush of Fools

I’m so far away
From the only place I know I should be
Find me, take me

Chorus:
Come like the day, come chase away this darkness
I’ve been living here so long and I give up
Come wash away everything I’ve built between us
And I will sing unending songs of Your love

I cannot find rest
I can’t catch my breath from running away
So stop me and take me

[Chorus]

Your love has stolen my heart, Your love has set me apart
Your love is life in my veins and all my mistakes fade away
So find me and stop me, and take me, and save me

[Chorus]

Let’s have a look at Ecclesiastes 5 (KJV), that’s where I happened to open my Bible this morning. Before I start, I just want to say that I’m simply sharing my understanding of these scriptures here on my personal blog, I’m no expert. I will quote the scriptures so you can read them for yourself, but please - prove all things and hold fast that which is good! Read the scriptures for yourself and pray about them.

I believe that we may get different interpretations of the verses as a result of many different things: experience, spiritual growth, faith, openness to hearing the Lord’s voice at the time of reading, prayer, and need. Yes, I believe that we receive different understanding on some things as we have need of different things in our lives. That is why later on, if you read the same passages again you will understand different things and see things you hadn’t seen before! I believe God’s Word is living and true. That it is the perfect guide to living a good and healthy life in harmony with everybody else around you, yet we all face difficulties and persecution at some point or another and the Bible warns us that it will happen and it equips us to deal with it too. I believe God speaks to each of us through this wonderful book according to our particular situation. This is the message I got today:

Be Still And Know…

Verse 1 talks about being silent and listening for God’s voice. The Spirit works in us and if we are too busy talking to God and do not leave space for Him to talk to us then we might miss His message. Let’s be still and ready to hear God’s voice.

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter [any] thing before God: for God [is] in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

Verse 2 follows this idea by telling us to use few words, this is a message you will see in the Gospels too. We shouldn’t be repeating prayers or explaining things and making excuses, God hears us, there is no need to repeat things to Him because He knows better than we do about what is going on and what we need. In many places in the Bible you will find the message about how fools are known by their continuous talking - talking a lot is a sign of fools where the wise keep their peace.

Revelation

Verse 3 talks about dreams and prophecy. I understand that it happens to those who work hard. Who do good works perhaps. Somebody who is not “all talk and no action” - that would be a fool. Is this telling us that God speaks to those who keep their silence and choose their words wisely doing good deeds and diligently doing the Lord’s work?

For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice [is known] by multitude of words.

I had a look at the NIV translation of this verse and I am not totally happy with it. If you look at a concordance you will see the word “business” is translated as “occupation” or “job”, not “cares”. The word “dream” is a “dream” or “prophetic dream”.

I understand this to mean that answers to prayers (and possibly prophecy) come to those who are quiet to receive them, but not to those who are idle.

Integrity

Verse 4 and 5 talk about making promises you cannot keep. Making promises is a dangerous habit because if you cannot keep your promises you end up lying in some form or another - in any case letting somebody else down. These verses warn against that, especially against making promises to God. You wouldn’t want to end up with a broken promise to God!

When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for [he hath] no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
Better [is it] that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

Silence Is Golden

Verse 6, like many other verses in the Bible, talks about how the mouth causes us to sin and to beware of this. It seems that the tongue really can get us in to a lot of trouble! It all brings new meaning to the saying “Silence is golden”.

Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it [was] an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?

For in the multitude of dreams and many words [there are] also [divers] vanities: but fear thou God.

Provider - King - Judge - Saviour

Next I understand that it doesn’t matter what is going on in the world, poverty, injustice, political battles, God sees it all and He is still in control.

We as Christians should have faith in His providence and if we follow Jesus’ example of loving our neighbors then we will be shining a little of God’s light into this dark world. We should do God’s work on earth, that is what we are here for - to show the lost who Jesus is. The rest is in His hands and He will see the faithful through, no matter what happens.

If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for [he that is] higher than the highest regardeth; and [there be] higher than they.

Blessings - Money - Greed - Sharing

Verses 9-19 are about providing for everybody, the rich and the poor. It talks about enjoying your “portion” as that is your gift from God. I think it’s talking about how we should enjoy the wealth or blessings that God sends and share what we have.

Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king [himself] is served by the field.

Verse 10 says people will not be satisfied with abundance, but he who works hard for his money, he is satisfied and, as verse 12 says, he will sleep sweetly!

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this [is] also vanity.
When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good [is there] to the owners thereof, saving the beholding [of them] with their eyes?
The sleep of a labouring man [is] sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

The rich might live well, but their riches do nothing for their peace of mind, conscience, forgiveness of sins, love, etc. They still have worries and more wants - money breeds greed no matter how hard you try to fight it. Those who have will always “need” more. Money never satisfies and verse 10 says it so clearly.

There is a sore evil [which] I have seen under the sun, [namely], riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.
But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and [there is] nothing in his hand.
As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
And this also [is] a sore evil, [that] in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?
All his days also he eateth in darkness, and [he hath] much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

Like we read in Matthew 6:19-21

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

We should all be aware of where we are spending our energies and whether it is really important in the big picture or not. We should keep our final destination in mind and always labour towards that end. If we do this we will surely do good and not evil, we will love others, we will help those in need, we will enjoy every minute of life and will have faith in God’s providence in our lives and that whatever comes our way will work out for good in the end. We will have peace and inner joy in this knowledge.

Live Life To The Full

Behold [that] which I have seen: [it is] good and comely [for one] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it [is] his portion.
Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this [is] the gift of God.

This is such a lovely thought. God gives each person their portion, it is not always the same as somebody else’s portion, but it is enough for you. I believe God gives to those who can handle it. For example, some people cannot handle a little money well, and will definitely not be able to handle a lot!

Like the parable Jesus told about the master who left his servants with some coins while he was away. In Matthew we read about the servant who was given 5 coins compared to the one who received only 1. He who received 5 doubled them while his master was away, while he who had only one was afraid and hid it away till his master returned. This is what the master thinks about the two of them (Matthew 25:23 and 26):

To the servant who doubled his charge:
His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

To the servant who hid his in fear:
His lord answered and said unto him, [Thou] wicked and slothful servant

I am talking about money here, but you could probably apply this to any gift from the Lord, really. I believe that everything contains a lesson for us to grow through. If we grow in faith and love and knowledge then we will probably reap the benefits of a bigger portion. This portion is not always monetary, but lies in the joy we have inside.

For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth [him] in the joy of his heart.

Inner Joy And Peace

God gives each one his portion, but what happens inside the person, that is what is important and that is what God is looking at. God doesn’t want us talking a lot, showing off, being stingy and lazy, but wants us to be quiet, humble, to fear Him and help those who have less than us, to enjoy our portion and work hard at improving ourselves everyday.

In summary God wants us to live full and busy lives, enjoying spending time with others and earning our living. He doesn’t want us making promises and talking too much without action, but rewards those who work hard and love others.

Regardless of financial and occupational status, we will have joy and peace if we live this way - truly living life and enjoying it!

What do you think about these verses?

Visit this link for a list of published commentaries and other resources on the book of Ecclesiastes.

The part I’m quoting below is about what Christians should be like. If you look around, and look inside, you will see that people who call themselves Christians are not always aligned to what is written in this scripture. Unfortunately we are too often worried about what other people will think and forget about what God is thinking about our choices.

Matthew 25:31-46

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth [his] sheep from the goats:
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did [it] not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

So what should true Christians be doing?

We all know we are to love our neighbors. Unfortunately some people take that too seriously and stop exactly there… at their neighbors. They do not think about the rest of the men and women and children that are in need of a friend, a helping hand, some clothes or even just a smile to show they have been acknowledged.

In these verses Jesus shows us clearly who our neighbors are and how we should treat them:

1. Feed the hungry and give the thirsty something to drink - who are the hungry and thirsty? This could be spiritual hunger, but I think Jesus was very hands-on and was literally talking about those who are hungry… He says the word “stranger”. Those families that live on your block and everybody knows they are struggling to get by, their car is falling apart and everything unfortunate seems to happen to them. That man who sleeps on the station floor at night covered only by the clothes he has managed to keep on his back. The child who runs up to you as you exit the supermarket and begs you for some spare change. These are the people we should be feeding. By taking care of them physically we are showing them that God cares for them.
2. Giving clothes to those who need them more than us - we are living in a time of abundance. Even though the world economy seems to have seen better days, a majority of people in the developed world have more than they need. Next time we do our seasonal wardrobe switchover let’s think carefully about what we really need and if there is anybody else that might need it more than we do.
3. Visit the sick - One thing I have noticed since moving to Italy is that there is a large population of elderly people who have been abandoned by their family members. The news of a pensioner being found dead in their home comes a few times a year. How can people leave their family members alone at such an old age for so long that nobody noticed they have passed until neighbors call the authorities! When I was in girl guides (girl scouts?) we went to old age homes to visit some of these people who hardly ever get visitors - it is so touching and they really do appreciate the visit and hearing about anything that is happening outside of their rooms where many of them are forced to stay because of their illness or weakness. This is just a small part of it, these are only the elderly, but there are many other categories of sick people who could benefit from the occasional visitor.
4. Visit prisoners - This is something that might scare many people, but there are people in prison who have nobody coming to visit them. They have no hope, no joy, just the pain of knowing that in a moment of fury or drunkenness or temporary insanity they did something that ruined their lives and hurt the people they cared most about. I have known a person who has been to prison, I know that it is not a nice place. I know that those who are there for the first time often spend every moment wishing they could turn back time and make the right decision this time, but they cannot. These people would benefit so much from having something positive come their way. A good meal, a chat about something they are interested in (sport, hometown, general things going on outside those walls) even just seeing different colours is something that they miss. Everybody inside is wearing the prison outfit or a uniform and it gets quite dull. Even just writing to prisoners would be a great way to bring a smile to their faces and show them that the world is not all bad and there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I know some of these things are challenging to do and could even be dangerous, especially if you are alone, but churches and other organizations or groups could plan such outings where they could spread a little joy and hope to those who have lost all hope. There must be prison ministries, old age homes, soup kitchens and homeless shelters that would gladly accept help or point you in the right direction.

I know I cannot point fingers here, I have not done much of these things in the last few years except giving money to those who ask for it and wishing I had more to give, but if I think about it, I really do have so much more than those people on the streets and winter is coming fast. How can I complain about the cold when I’m seated on a couch in my bedroom with soft cushions behind my back, a robe to keep me warm and I know they are out there sleeping on cold marble at night with only newspapers to keep them dry and warm.

These are just some of the things I thought about today after reading Matthew 25.

I hope that more people can read these verses and be touched by them - be moved into action by them - and start to make a difference in somebody’s life.

In the end what matters most is what God thinks of our choices, not man.