Getting good at the little things

Yes, I’m a little guilty of being too ‘big-picture’ about life. Passionately engaged with the way things might be! I get excited by the potential of the future…for my kids, for my family, for church & community. Giving my energy to the task of finding a way forward is a joy to me. Project-focused? Probably. When dead-lines hit, slightly manic? It’s unfortunately undeniable: I’m occasionally careless about the little things. Washing, dishes, you know food in the fridge that sort of thing is fairly little. As lovely as vision is it’s the little things that get you there. It’s not just important for me though. What I am, those in my household may also have the tendency to become….oh dear.

Is it possible to be passionate about monotony? Perhaps a better word is purposeful. Purposeful in today to the benefit of tomorrow. Intentional in the little things so they may one day grow into much bigger things. It need not only be chores, basic well-being has sometimes become a bit of a little thing. Eat well, sleep well (ummm 20mth DD doesn’t sleep), drink water, laugh, encourage someone, give a hug, take a walk. So this post has become a bit of a confession! Little things only get that way with perspective.

I love remembering the truth that there is only one constant, God. I am the variable. His model of constant mercy, unfailing love & faithfulness, and the unalterable history of God’s people found in the bible drive me on. Yay for God. So can he buy the groceries, drink more water and hang the washing with me? Absolutely! Finding the meaning in the little things is like conversation with the Almighty.

sigh

“To come to the pleasure you have not you must go by the way in which you enjoy not.” St John of the Cross

This one is a quote on my mirror. It’s been helpful. The pleasure of a baby in my arms comes by the way of sleepless nights, the pleasure of watching a child learn to read has come by the way of daily practice, the pleasure of a deepening friendship with my husband has come by the way of humility (even when I know I’m right!) and similarly getting to know God – the delight of my heart – is not always easy or fun.

Like a perfect Father he is totally able to guide my childlike attempts to ‘help’ in the things he is busy with in the earth. The picture of a solid farmer about his work while his little girl watering-can-in-hand is toddling along behind, tripping over her own feet in her attempts to work for Daddy scattering seed everywhere in the meantime. “Keep on, my girl! Let’s give it a go together.” Father encourages. That’s me! For me this is what happiness looks like.

Community Kids Club in the Park

Christmas Carols event put on by the Council & An Elvis Tribute Show in an RSL Club singing ‘Gospel’

A Christianity consumed with perfectionism must be one of the saddest most joy-absent things I’ve ever seen. Do I look right? Sound right? Move right? Fitting in is really not on the agenda that Jesus came to release on the earth. It’s all about the Kingdom with Jesus. Our nation and the nations of the earth are hungry for authentic expressions of Christian faith. This kind of living is however messy. This counter-cultural pursuit of Jesus (in and through my failure, pain and struggle) over a ‘pursuit-of-happiness’ definitely does produce an incomparable pleasure. That isn’t to say being more aware of those things that generate well-being in a human sense are wrong, but preoccupation or obsession with happiness for the sake of happiness can be a bit depressing. (I enjoyed these resources on happiness and the comment this documentary made on society https://www.happinesscentral.com).

There is pleasure to be had for followers of the way of faith that doesn’t simply ‘look’ right but lives radical…radically honest, radically patient, radically generous, radically disciplined, radically sacrificial with the example of Jesus at the centre. For each of these has an associated pain: those who are honest may be misunderstood, those who are patient may be mistreated, those who are generous may be taken for granted, those who are disciplined may be repressed, those who are sacrificial may never self-actualise. Yet for the sake of Christ we may consider our right to these things a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ!

Isaiah 53 

Who believes what we’ve heard and seen?
    Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?

2-6 The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
    a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
    nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
    a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
    We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
    our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
    that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
    that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
    Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
    We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
    on him, on him.

Better Together

So here’s how we roll…

 This is another day at the office for my husband. Entertainer, performer and generally sweet-funny guy Mark Borg www.bornagainelvis.com for me it’s a scenery change from my daily grind. Which looks something more like this…

    

As a musician-homeschooler-Jesuslover-with-a-heart-for-the-nations diversity is definitely a part of the fabric of our ministry, marriage and family. It makes for interesting introductions, “What do you do?” Ummmm…a lot of different things 🙂 We had the privilege of ministering in a local church for over a decade, seven years of which were in a full-time pastoral capacity.  Born Again Elvis has been sharing good times with Elvis fans professionally since 1998! Some of our best memories have been working together with music, encouraging, sharing stories of God’s faithful love, meeting new friends and generally talking-up the love of God that we encounter in the Son he loves, Jesus. Being sent from Sydney to Malta, India, South-Africa, Singapore, UK and Germany (some of these places I still need to see as the opportunities were brief and Mark went alone) but as I said, our ideal is to do what we do together!

Learning culture and language, we do it together…

Travel and ministry, together…

 

Church and community programs together,

What we do, we do together knowing our sense of nuclear belonging brings clarity to the concept of a life sent into the setting of wider community to be a blessing. Better together is a philosophy that directs our way of life.

 

 

A little introduction

Hi, I’m Gina and this is a little blog about some of our adventures as an Australian family of 7, homeschooling, singing and entertaining, loving travel, heritage & culture (mostly Malta) and most of all living to know God better through his son Jesus and loving his imperfect but grateful people: the church!

My husband (of 13 years) and I have joyfully had the privilege of working together for the local church GGClife (A shout out to my peeps! Love you guys!!) And currently working with God’s people in the west at MBM Rooty Hill. Entertaining locally and overseas with Mark‘s Elvis Tribute Show both for the ‘paying public’ and as a ministry for churches and community organisations. We are parents to DD 18, DD 12, DS 10, DS 8 and DD 1!!! What a blessing and responsibility, we don’t take this lightly.

So our current crazy is our ‘together’ through the pain of studies…Mark, DD18 and I are all currently enrolled in tertiary studies!!! Diploma’s in Fine Art, Education and Theology…a pretty fun combination but full on schedule come exam time. *Sigh*

Wonderful but crazy. Whatever we are asked to set our hand to there is always provision, so we are getting through with much to be grateful for in it all. And it’s a powerful thing to be able to write a ‘thankful’ list, so here’s ours:

• For lots of laughs
• For flexible timetables
• For moments of insight – “Ah, ha!”
• For realising how badly organised I am
• For pressure to force better organisation
• For vision and hope
• For modelling time-management, focus and interest-based life-long learning to a houseful of home-schooled little people
• For the affirmation of passing (at times well…)
• For a chance to get it right and do it better next semester!!!

YaY a blog!

It’s time to put it out there 🙂

I’ve known for a while that I need to put some of this stuff down in writing. Having a few precious friends (actually heaps of great families we’ve known over the past ten years) relocate has brought it home. After abandoning Facebook I do feel quite happy to be a bit more intentional about connecting with friends and family especially with a view to the future…mmmmmm

Hopeful this is the beginning of some beautiful things. Looking forward to having time to do a proper post, when I’ve had a proper think. Right now I ought to get back to the 9000 words I’m supposed to be editing to hand in in the next 24 hours.

In the meantime…DD in the library. Lead the way precious girl!