Well, this weekend I smashed out the first essay for my Graduate Diploma of Divinity (I think that’s what I’m enrolled in… I should probably pay more attention…). The assignment was interesting but it felt like I almost took just as much time with the referencing as I did the actually writing. Half a day, gone with a footnote. I felt like a first year undergraduate.

For the record, I actually think footnotes are preferable. I’m just used to APA.

On a more important note, I found it encouraging and challenging to reflect on my own engagement with mission and my Church’s engagement also, which was the topic of the assignment. These were some of my reflections as I typed away:

How well do we know our local region? Well enough that we have a clear picture of what is happening, how God might be working and how we might be involved in what he is doing?

(I probably don’t have a clear enough picture of most of those things).

How about further afield: outside of my city, interstate and across the globe? Have I taken the time to find out more about the religious makeup of places around the world? Have I taken the time to prayerfully consider whether God is moving in a particular pattern or way?

Of course, God can and will do whatever he wants and isn’t bound to be at work in the same way in every corner of the globe. Yet still, have we taken the time to observe the movement of the Spirit in these days?

If we do, there might be much for us to take on board.

Yours in probably needing to pay more attention,

Alison