The Soul Of My Feet

Heart and Soul Soak

You will need:

- about a metre of white muslin material/ white cotton/ 2 metres of white ribbon
-  1 cup Rolled Oats/ 1 cup Milk Powder/ 1 tablespoon of Essential Oil (Lavender is lovely!) 

1. Cut muslin into squares and sew up edges leaving top open
2. Stir together the rolled oats, milk power and essential oil
3. Fill bag and sew along the top attaching the ribbon to form a loop to resemble a  tea bag
4. Enjoy!

Heart and Soul Soak

Leading up to Christmas this year, a million thoughts were churning through my head. I was struggling with how to celebrate this day without becoming a victim of how the rest of the world celebrates it. My fear was that my children would become greedy which YES they did by the end of the day. They really had no idea how much the presents cost, no idea of how much time or thought went into them it was more, ‘is that mine?’  or ‘when am I going to get another present???’ So it seems no amount of thinking was going to change the inherent selfish nature in all of us. And yes yet again Jesus became 2nd best rather than first. He’s supposed to be the reason why we celebrate CHRISTmas and yet the manger has been replaced by shopping malls and drunkard parties…Idid however discover Jesus admist it all and it was in the most unexpected of places. Leading up to Christmas, I’d had this idea of making these little teabags that you use in the bath (see pic above). They are incredibly easy to make (I’ll post the recipe) so I decided to make enough to give out at our local Nursing home on Christmas day. For once I actually followed through and we all rocked up at around lunchtime with our big bag of goodies. Liam was slightly shy but when he saw the smiles on those faces as he said “Merry Christmas” he become bolder and bolder. All I wanted to do was break down and cry, it was so incredibly sad. I saw such loneliness in some of their eyes and yet in some, such happiness. Then one of the nurses suddenly came and cuddled me so unexpectedly and almost cried as she said “I so needed this today”. She was referring to the ref to Matthew 11:28-29 ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for you souls’. I was praying that the patients would be comforted by those words and yet it was in the heart of a nurse that God used that moment to comfort her…

I just wanted to share an amazing moment I had today. I put the kids to bed just after lunch then settled into a book on the lounge. The book I got into was “lifting Him Up” by Rob Kenoly and Dick Bernal, anyway mid way into the book, I suddenly had this vivid vision of the Cross, and I could see it with my eyes open and my eyes closed. I thought maybe the cover had the image on it and somehow my eyes were playing tricks on me but no I just couldn’t explain what I was seeing which lasted about a minute then it was gone. I’m pretty sure it was a vision…and to be honest I’m thrilled God chose me to see it because I needed to be reminded of the sacrifice he made for me…Thank You J x

I surprised myself yesterday by taking the bus home, yes the bus. My memories of bus rides have been tainted with bullying, hair pulling, smelly bottoms and general stickyness  which is probably why I’ve tended to avoid public transport as an adult. But today I did it and it felt liberating! It gave me time to look out the window to see life from a different perspective and yet just another chance to rest. It was simply lovely and I think I’ll do it more often!

Well, Christmas party season has begun! Restaurants are alive with party revellers living up to the yearly tradition of “drink and be merry”. We were involved in one just last night,  the room was full of young and old, short and tall, small and large and well a bunch of licorice allsorts, somehow connected to each other because of their work but so amazingly disconnected from each other at the same time. The night was great but I couldn’t help notice that even though they were celebrating Christmas, there was no mention of Christ. Although I felt completely alone in the way I observed the night, I maintained a quiet confidence of the privilege I have that God has chosen me to belong to him. I’m so thankful that I’m separate from the mob of revellers and that I can rejoice in knowing the real meaning of Christmas…without being intoxicated!