Decisions

I heard a snippet of the speech that Tony Blair made at the Labour Conference yesterday, and thought a part of it was worth a mention. He said something along the lines of:

'The British public will forgive a bad decision. What they won't forgive is making no decision.'

I started thinking about this point of view in other contexts and whether I believed it to be true. I know that there are times when i have backed away from making a decision and it has blown up in my face, when really the best way forward would have been to have taken courage and gone for something, facing the consequences either way. I suppose it largely depends on the nature and scale of the decision. As I was saying to Neil, I do wonder whether this statement is always true. For example, if Blair was referring to the war in Iraq, then I wonder whether people would agree that a bad decision was better than no decision.

In my own context, I think it comes down to being sure of whether God is leading me and leading the church. It is only my confidence in him that leads me into scary waters when I am really a bit of a chicken. However, trying to follow God and his heart means that I can follow through even unpopular decisions... at least, that is the theory....

De-Cluttering

Preparing for parenthood is an odd time and it is also great to confirm that some of those cliches really are true, as the nesting instinct has kicked in. Those who know me will realise that I am not the tidiest person but mess has really started to get to me and I have found myself desperate to sort out drawers, cupboards and messy surfaces. This is all made more difficult by the fact that we are currently decorating - the knock on effect of the lovely new bathroom is that the hallway needs painting, although we did finish painting the baby's room today!

We have also spent a lot of time de-cluttering and the whole process has made me realise how much junk and stuff we accumulate. We have got rid of tonnes of CDs, books and videos and it feels really good to have purged ourselves slightly! Some of the worst stuff that I hoard is not material things but old school books etc. I realised things had gone too far when I found my actual GCSE results from 10 years ago in the original brown envelope, along with loads of exercise books dating back to primary school. I finally got rid of loads of A-level notes. I just find it so hard to let go of something that I spent so much work on! But hey ho - a new chapter of my life begins, with lots of baby clutter to take up space.

On that note, we are trying to keep things to the bare minimum. It is all to easy to get sucked in to thinking that the way to give the baby the best start is to buy the top of the range equipment, whereas what the baby really needs is to be safe, warm, dry and have lots and lots of hugs. Theer are times I really love being part of a church community and we have been freely given or lent so much second hand stuff by friends and family. It is beautiful to know that people are so good at sharing. Not only that, but it is better for the environment to re-use rather than buy new. On that note, I am dead pleased cos I have just ordered a load of reusable nappies for the baby, courtesy of One Life. Iam determined to be as green as possible, including our biggest adventure yet, giving up the car when Neil stops work next year.... will keep you posted on that one.

More posts will follow, and not all focused on the baby, although with 4 weeks until due date, it is hard to think of other things!

Bathroom MAdness

Still intending to finish posting about the Blue Lagoon and the Big Chill... and Greenblet... and some thoughts on mentoring! However, at the mo we are living at Neil's parents and I have limited Internet access so the blog remains neglected... sob! Still working on a college assignment connected with mentoring, although I am really excited about the impact that it may have on youthwork at EBC and reflecting on where God is leading us.

I am also trusting God that the baby will not make an early appearance as our house is a building site - literally - and the nursery remains unfit for a baby...

All good fun. I am sure once I am on maternity leave, blogging will be much more regular, new born babies just sleep all the time don't they? As if...