The Promise of Life – Mark

I found the process of writing the Promise of Life with others really inspiring (you might want to write your own or adapt this one for use with friends).

As for what it has meant in this first six months, I’ve been haunted (and blessed!) by the phrase, ‘no longer hurried, distracted or worried’. They say that often one of the first works of God in our lives is to show us where we’re falling short. That’s how it has been with this sentence! But equally I’ve been trying to take up Stephen Cottrell’s advice (in his book Do Nothing To Change Your Life) and spend a little time in stillness each day. As a result of this, and the Promise, I think I am less harried than I would have been.

Another thing has been “giving myself” more deeply to my family. Now we have four kids, this is even more important. I’m aware, too, how blessed we are to have the family that we do. This year, as part of trying to be more generous, we’ve not holidayed except to stay with family around the country. Their generosity has helped us to be generous.

In fact, the more I think of it, the more I realize that this last 6 months has been more about learning to receive than learning to give. Through Streetbank we got a new scooter for our son, through our neighbours we’ve received all kinds of help when our new daughter came. The Promise of Life is coming true for us, bit by bit, but as ever it’s not always in ways we imagined…