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Viewpoint from Mary Ives 26/04/2024
 Mary Ives
Licensed Lay Minister
St Mary Magdalene Church, Gorleston
As a Christian I have always believed that God has a purpose for my life, and that I need to seek to follow where he leads. God has certainly not promised that, if you follow him, you will lead a charmed life. What he has promised is that he will be with us through all the ups and downs, giving us the strength to face what the world throws at us. If we’re not careful we can launch from one crisis to another and find it hard to keep all the plates spinning. It’s all too easy to keep going with the flow and things that happen make us feel we are on a hamster wheel and there is no way to stop
I have been fortunate over the last couple of months in that I have had the opportunity to take time out from many of the things which I am normally involved in. It was a conscious decision following a time when lots of things had happened around me, things which I have had to come to terms with. I didn’t realise how much I had been negatively impacted until I was no longer rushing around from one thing to another. For once I had time for me, to reflect, to regroup and seek renewal
 In these last few weeks, I’ve been able to plan my time more effectively. No, I haven’t sat around with my feet up – although there has been a certain amount of that. I have managed to spend time with family and friends, spend time reading, take up some new interests and generally enjoy life at a much more leisurely pace. In that time, I’ve allowed God to speak to me again, often through meditation, or through creation as I’ve enjoyed spending time visiting gardens and areas of interest. In many ways this has helped me to renew my spirituality
I know that this time has been precious to me and realise the benefits of taking time out. I can’t say I haven’t missed many of the things I usually do. Matthew in his gospel wrote these words of Jesus, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”
Not everybody can do what I have just done, but maybe we can all in some way find that little bit of time to seek God in our everyday life – another verse from Matthew’s gospel invites us to seek God – “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”. Even in the maelstrom of everyday life God is there for us – the onus is on us to seek him first
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