Set The World On Fire

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” - Catherine of Siena

Make a difference in this world.

I am the candle of the Lord,
with truth and love more powerful than sword;
O fan the flame, its single gleam diffuse,
And let my spirit be the light that You can use;
I am the candle of the Lord!
Light me!
(lyrics by Joy Webb)

Self-harm For A Biscuit

I went to give blood tonight.  Self-harm for a biscuit, as my son calls it.

Just another small gesture to try and help someone else. Something that I have done over the years in an attempt to make a difference in this world. To do a bit of good. To save someone's life. I counted up, it was my 66th donation tonight.

I'm glad I went. The nurse was telling me how low blood stocks were following the bad weather we experienced last week. They had cancelled so many donation sessions last week. She thanked me perfusely for taking the trouble to come out...

But how much had this helped? All those donations, all those biscuits...

It's not easy to find out what difference all those multiple "small gestures" has made to this world, as I haven't a clue how my blood may have been used. A serious operation may use multiple donations to keep one patient alive...

In addition, blood is usually separated into its individual components or parts, so a patient can be given the particular component they need. Thus, the components in one unit of blood (or one donation) can be used to treat different patients.

So I can't tell. However, I can speculate. Even if I was going to take a conservative estimate, and say that one life was saved for every two of my donations... (and that's a number I read somewhere or other)...

That's 33 lives saved.

Wow.

Be Still

Who exactly is in control of my life? I often wonder...

• Sometimes I feel that I am careering through life in the fast lane of a motorway in a clapped-out old car, with me reluctantly in the driver's seat - frantically pumping the foot-brake to slow things down, while looking for the signs for the next junction so I can finally escape from this fast pace set by the other road users...
• And then, sometimes, things actually do work out, and I'm happy, patting myself on the back for managing to steer my way through yet another storm... and yet, I wonder 'what did I do right'...
• And then, there are those times when things do work out, and I simply haven't got a clue how I managed to survive that one - that one has to be God's, I couldn't have done that on my own. Clearly God has to be in control...

I am writing this post whilst sitting on the sofa, the family have all gone out, so the house is actually quiet. The winter storm that was kicking off outside for the last two days is finally spent, and the snow is starting to subside. All is calm, and still. I have chance to think.

And I'm pondering on Psalm 46:10. And admitting a couple of things

I don't want to be "out-of-control", however I recognise that some situations will be outside my ability to influence. The problem is - I know I can't control it, and I don't want to give up! That's probably why I'm feeling so much stress. Feeling a bit sorry for myself. Is that right?

Am I trying to control things that only God can control?

Psalm 46:10 (New American Standard Bible)
“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”