‘There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens:…a time to weep and a time to laugh.’
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4
‘Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.’
Psalm 126:2
When was the last time you laughed? Really laughed? The last couple of years have given most of us much to weep over. Many of us have shed many tears of sadness. But there comes a time for us to laugh. If you need help to laugh, animals, babies and small children provide moments that will cause you to smile and laugh.
Laughter is good for our mental wellbeing. If you want help with caring for your mental wellbeing, Press On: Building resilience & mental wellbeing provides you with tips and input on how you can build habits such as laughter into your life.
In the last few weeks, as I’ve chatted with a number of women, I’ve seen how adept they are at juggling and pivoting. But we have many balls to juggle in life. Our plans go awry, and those balls just start tumbling. And this is when we feel the weariness and stress and think, ‘I can’t keep doing this.’
The question for us as pastoral carers is whether Jesus saw any other significance in laying down his life for the sheep. And consequently, is there a type of sacrifice which Jesus calls his followers in pastoral care to make?
The God of all grace is not remote and he doesn’t simply delegate to others. He is willing, so to speak, to get his hands dirty.
This was a moment of grace, during an ordinary routine, given to me by our creator God. Pumpkins had given me a new song to sing.
The Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute is a part of Mary Andrews College, an Anglican Deaconess Ministry.
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