Monday 20 September 2010

Simple pleasures

I was so inspired by Rachel Olsen’s blog carnival title ‘Simple Pleasures’ that I blogged immediately on my home page. I thought of so many! But my main focus is a simple pleasure that means a great deal to me – and, I hope, to my friends.

I’ve blogged before about my monthly breakfast meetings. I’m inspired by Hebrews 10:25 (New International Version): Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another… or, as The Message puts it: Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love…

There is nothing that energizes me as much as meeting with like-minded friends round the table, with even the simplest of meals, talking and living with Jesus. I just love ‘God-talk’. Whole-hearted, open-hearted, tender-hearted discussion about what it means to be a friend of Jesus.

So once a month I get up at ‘work time’ on a Saturday. I lay the table with a pretty tablecloth, china, a few flowers, cutlery and napkins. I serve croissants or home-made fruit bread or buns. I cut up fruit, arranging it on a platter. Around 6 – 12 women gather for breakfast. We all have very busy lives and work full-time outside the home. So this is a little oasis for us as we meet for a couple of hours, sharing our struggles as we work out our salvation in our work places. We talk about serving Jesus through serving our colleagues; about prayer; about witness; about being REAL.

Simply a pleasure.

9 comments:

  1. Ooo I likey! And I'm jealous! I would give up my Saturday too for some Jesus talk!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Friends, definitely a simple pleasure. Happy to help with the song idea. The song by Sidewalk Prophets that I included with my first post was on the radio and I was writing that and it fit so well I had to include. God is so great.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love your breakfast idea! The simple pleasure of sitting down at a beautifully set table with china and flowers is so relaxing. What a pleasure to share it with friends who can share and pray with you. Thanks for inspiring me. I am going to go dust off my fine china.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your breakfast sounds just lovely! I agree there is something really special about the combination of women and God's word... sweet intimacy. What a blessing you must be to these women!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the breakfast idea too! Once every few months or so I get together with a group of my friends for dessert. We use it as a time to reconnect & find out what God has been teaching each of us. Love the simple pleasure of spending time with friends.

    Mary

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, that is a great idea! How wonderful that you have friends to share the word of Jesus with and how wonderful of you to host such an event. Thank you for sharing with us. I agree you are a blessing to these women!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Woo Hoo! What a great idea and easy to do.
    You have encouraged me to intentionally provide an oasis of fellowship for those who come to share about our God.
    Up until now, such sweet times have been relegated to my "recoveries." After each of my major surgeries (2003,2004,2010)friends come over to "babysit me." One-on-one we share about God's goodness, but your post reminds me that I don't have to wait til I'm immobilized!
    Blessings~

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lovely to hear that you all already do something like this, or are maybe inspired to start. It really isn't a chore but a tremendous blessing to me. I benefit SO much!

    Jess, so sorry to hear that such times have been after surgery. Hope you manage to build in other times now too - and that you stay well!

    ReplyDelete