Slipping gently into to the third week already, we have an explicitly Christian challenge today with a focus on reading and sharing favourite Bible texts to encourage others:

GO EASY:

If you can't think of a particular person to encourage, then share your favourite verse or encouragement on a social network.

GOT A LITTLE MORE TIME?

Spend ten minutes praying or thinking about someone you know who is experiencing a tough time. Send them a text or a card with an appropriate verse inside it, and let them know you care.

GET CREATIVE: Set aside some time to read the Bible with someone. It can be great to unpack the more difficult ideas and verses alongside another person.

All of which has given me an idea for a talk I have to do this afternoon :-)

The theme today is intergenerational relationships... I guess it depends which generation we are which challenge might or might not be feasible!!

5 MINUTES:

Call your grandma, or your grandson, or your teenage cousin. Make a point of reconnecting with someone of a different generation today.

15 MINUTES:

Pay someone a visit today. It might be a family member, someone from your church or a former colleague. If you can't spare the time because of work, what about spending your lunch break with someone new?

FFEELING INSPIRED

Find out how to become a mentor to a young person or make a commitment to regularly visit a residential care home near you.

For me the challenge is not so much the intergenerational bit as the quality of the contact... at one level I will do all of these today, at another maybe not... in all the busy, busy, busy 'doing' maybe it's the 'being' I need to think about?

The 'nudge' of conscience or conscientisation... the gentle (or not so gentle) 'shove in the back' attributable to God's Holy Spirit... that inner voice that says 'do it'... call it what you will, today we are invited to listen to our guts (and not the rumble tums!!)

GET INSPIRED:

Spend five minutes on today’s author’s [of the reflection on 40 Acts website] website. Get inspired by some amazing generosity stories. Perhaps even share a few.

FEELING BRAVE

Think about the last time you ignored your generous gut instinct. Is there any way you could do that thing today? If not then pray and ask God to give you another opportunity. Wherever you are today, watch out for one. Maybe you could buy The Big Issue, say yes where you might have ignored a request, or make a donation to a cause.

CARPE DIEM IT

Go outside for an hour today, to a place where lots of people are – that might be a supermarket, a coffee shop, a high street. Take some time to listen out for any generous prompts you get. When the opportunity comes, seize it.

I think what this has made me ponder is not the 'urges' I have to be generous but the reality that the huge numbers of Big Issue vendors, beggars and chuggers I see everyday have led to a hardening of my heart, a narrowing of my vision, a less generous 'gut'.  I expect the sense that I am being sworn at in some Eastern European language, or the witnessed arguments over 'pitches' between vendors and among beggars don't really help either.  Perhaps today what I need is to tune in afresh to my intuition and act on what I detect.

Today would have been my Dad's 90th birthday... I'm not quite sure why this seems important to share but over the last few weeks I've found myself noting the various nonegenarians in my world and then realising that, were he still alive, my Dad would be contemporary with them.

Just after Easter it will quarter of a century since he died which feels like a significant marker - the above photo on his 65th birthday was taken just weeks before he died.  I can't pretend I was close to my Dad, but there have been times as a middle-aged woman I'd have loved to have been able to sit down and talk about stuff with him.  His final weeks were quite precious, his 65th birthday, spent in a hospital ward a day characterised by love and laughter despire the unspoken certainty that time was short.  We weren't close, but he was my Dad and I loved him.

My Mum always claims my Dad was the Clerk of the Weather, so maybe some sunshine for your 90th, eh Dad...

Recycling and re-using... seems pretty obvious to me but here we go anyway:

ONE GREEN BOTTLE:

Today, keep track of every plastic item you use and throw away. The first step to making a difference is being mindful. In case you need any more convincing on the green front, watch and share this video to see why plastic really isn’t that fantastic.

TWO GREEN BOTTLES:

Commit to dropping some plastic from your life – like trading that bottled water or takeaway coffee cup for a decent reusable version instead. Show us yours using #40acts!

THREE GREEN BOTTLES:

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Repurpose it. Have a look at this handy blog, and then see if you can get a bit crafty and creative today.

I am that boring person who has taken her own bags to the supermarket for years and years, who sifts and sorts recycling and then hand delivers it because there is no kerbside collection for her housing complex.  I am the person who has a 'keep cup' and a selection of robust hiking water bottles (does sometimes buy bottled water it has to be said, though the bottles are always reused or recycled afterwards)

Last week when I was 'down south' in the one part of the UK yet to start charging for carrier bags (and to be fair, where in my experience voluntary recycling/re-using progressed a lot faster than where I live now) I popped into a small supermarket and was shocked at the huge quantity of plastic bags waiting to be used just once... it is amazing how quickly one adapts.  Sad that it needs legislation to make us do what we should do anyway.

Not going to be feeling smug today, as the amount of stuff I recycle every week is HUGE and maybe I, too, need to take a look at my habits...