Today we are invited to say two little words..."thank you"....

I'VE GOT FIVE MINUTES

Got Twitter? Send someone a quick tweet to let them know why you're thankful for them in 140 characters. You could do this by text or phone too if you like.

I'VE GOT THIRTY MINUTES

Write a good old-fashioned thank you note. It's a worthy way to spend time, and everyone loves getting 'real mail' in the post!

MAKE A COMMITMENT!

Write a thank you note to a different person everyday throughout Lent. Watch our video to find out what happened when one 40acts challenger did this last year…

In the spirit of the act, a big "thank you" to you for reading this blog, whether you visit often or occaisonally or if this is the first time and you landed here via some search engine or other. 

Thank you, because without readers, known and unknown, there would be little point in writing this stuff. 

Thank you to those who persevere with the tempremental commenting system. 

Thank you to those who sometimes drop me an email in response to something I've said.

Thank you to those who still use this as a means of checking up that I am OK, and who get concerned if I miss a day or two unexplained.

Thank you to those who tell me when I get it wrong.

Thank you to those who maintain this blogging platform, with all its idiosyncracies, and allow me a space to blabber on line and for free!

Thank you... whoever you are just for being you.

This afternoon I have been snuggled up (down?) on my settee with a cat for company (the other one keeping watch from afar) and reading this little book.

I pretty much always buy the Archbishop's book, and it is always a bit of a lottery what I might, or might not, make of it.  This one is a nice, easy, read, accessible to anyone whether or not they've ever studied theology, gentle in tone and basically encouraging.  Nothing new, nothing very radical, nothing that someone who has been trying to follow Jesus for most of her life should not know... but even so worthwhile.  It is a little bit repetitive in places, but not to the overall detriment of whole.  At £9.99 cover price, it's affordable and very easy to read during the six weeks of Lent even if time and energy are in short supply.

Certainly a pleasant and uplifting way to spend part of a day off (with added kitty cat cuddles and plenty of Fairtrade tea!!)

Someone asked a question in a Baptist facebook group, and I knew the answer because it was something I researched way back in my NAM days, and which I had thought might form part of my doctoral research (it didn't because I shifted from case studies to methodology as a focus, and then of course I abandoned it all after my cancer diagnosis).

It took a bit of digging, but there it was a 97% complete essay on a data stick, in a box, in a drawer.  And I had remembered correctly!

Maybe it's an essay I ought to tidy up and do something with if, as it seems, it is useful for others?  And maybe I should pair it up with the one I actually did complete, which gave rise to the hypothesis I had planned to explore... The PhD will never be done now, I just don't have the intellectual capacity anymore, but maybe the two pieces of work I did deserve to be read more widely than just by my NAM tutor of way-back-when?

At the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, today's challenges are all about trade justice...

£

If you can't support Fairtrade with your wallet, use your voice instead. Read up about the movement, and tell someone why it's a cause worth supporting.

££

Buy Fairtrade today when you stop at the shops for that drink or bar of chocolate. Even better, buy two and give one to a friend.

£££

Ever thought about a Fairtrade wardrobe? It might be more costly, but ask yourself: if that high street store can make a profit on those £5 shoes, how much really reaches the factory worker paid to make them?

Given the title of this blog, given that I have supported faitrade since the 1980s, this one is really preaching to the converted!  However, I will succumb to the invitation to post photos with a fairtrade logo...  me this morning drinking fairtrade tea from a mug I bought in a fairtrade town back in 2003 !!

Oops, yesterday I planned two surprises and then forgot to deliver each of them!  Never mind, I will surprise someone yet today, I will. I will...