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Viewpoint from Carolyn Cliff 15/10/2021
 Carolyn Cliff
Licensed Lay Minister
Parish of Great Yarmouth
Preparation. We all need to do preparation. Even Jesus encourages us to prepare. In Luke 14:28-30, Jesus spoke of figuring the cost of building a house. You would look foolish if you ran out of money halfway through
We all do some planning. Maybe you have already had your holiday this summer and are thinking about where to go for your next holiday. Where shall we go, what shall we do there, what will the weather be like, what clothes do I need to take? How much money shall I take with me? But also, how do I pay for this holiday – or how much debt will I be in when I get back?
 For those back at school, what books and equipment do I need? Maybe you are planning your essay or dissertations. For teachers they will be planning lessons and resources needed to meet the curriculum
For those in business, they will be thinking about who and where their market is to sell to. Finances will be looked at to pay for resources and delivery dates. That’s of course if there are enough truck drivers to deliver goods
But what about our day-to-day life? When you get up in the morning do you think about what is coming up that day? Even if it is just the housework. I wonder if you like me watch the TV programmes that help families to manage their shopping better and not waste as much. Where do you start?
 For our major weekly shop, we start with menus for that week. Then ask, do we have the ingredients? I will go around the house to check what we need (not want but need) making a shopping list. Makes shopping so much easier. If we change our plans at least we know we have food in the house that can be adapted. Or maybe we will get to the shop to find an empty space of the item we were looking for. We can adapt. We don’t buy too much to later throw away. (Oh, we are not perfect and do forget some things, but we try not to)
Jesus gave an example of planning and assessing the cost. We too in our daily lives need to plan and assess the cost. Cost may be in money or time. It can mean cost to our neighbours and local area. It may be to nature and the environment. Cost to the future of humans and wildlife. Cost to our health and wellbeing
Planning not only takes in cost to us personally but also our responsibility to others. We may have a ‘right’ to buy what we want or do what we want when we want. But we need to think about the good or the harm. Planning properly will help us balance our ‘rights’ which come with our ‘responsibilities’, so that all live well and not bear the cost of our greed and selfishness
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