We're always going somewhere...

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I am writing this from a cafe down on the Victorian Penninsula where I've stopped for lunch after a couple of morning meetings. It's a cafe I've often driven past but haven't never been too before because I've always been going somewhere. Today the only place I was going was to lunch, so here I am and I am hoping that I might have some space to distill the thoughts that have been rattling around my head since our holiday.

How much of your time is spent at home or in the neighbourhood where you live, without an impending appointment requiring you to leave it? This was a question I was challenged with when I read a booked called "God Next Door" by Simon Holt. In essence Holt explores the relationships between home, the neighborhood and our experience and practice of faith.

I know that this year I have spent more time leaving the neighbourhood, and my house, than I care to admit. This is despite my enthusiasm for creating a home which people dropped in on and where our faith, home and family are interwoven as an organic expression of our lives. Despite a promising start, the drop-ins can be counted on one hand, the neighbourhood friendships have not progressed and building relationships in the broader community has been harder than I hoped. Our mid-week Biblestudy with two other local (and lovely) couples has been a great joy for us but even that has faltered in the last few months - largely because of the demands the HH and I have faced with work and study, combined with people's holidays and other commitments. We are nearing the end of the year and the window of opportunity for capitalising on the "new" factor to the street is also rapidly closing.

My "motto" for 2009 was to remove the word "busy" from my vocabulary. It's too easily made an excuse for missing things, being late and saying no to things when really life is a series of choices. In part I've succeeded; I've certainly become more intentional about what I choose to do, and what I choose not too but at the same time I've noticed an increase in phrases such as "stretched", "overwhelmed", under the pump" which all basically equate to the same idea - being time poor.

As I think about my neighbourhood, my enthusiasm for genuine connections and a welcoming, open home and where the call of God is amongst it all I wonder if my 2010 motto, and prayer, out to be "Slow down"?