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Every Evening

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Every Evening before my eyes slowly, giddily start to shut I try to read something.

Anything.

Even if it is just one line from my old and rifled bible. (currently loving Matthew)

A few sentences from a non-fiction that has caught my attention. (currently weaving through the hands free mama)

A flick through my latest novel and even sometimes just a sniff of my latest borrow from my local library. (I borrowed Let it snow from a friend and have The Gift partially read and The Longest Ride waiting)

Since embarking on novice motherhood and marriage the greatest loss in my life has been hours of uninterrupted book obsession. I can’t sit for hours in a cafe, I can’t lay on the couch and get lost in an-others world.

I can every evening, before my tired and weary body starts to fade, turn the television off and read something.

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Even just one line.

I read a quote recently that said this

‘Any writer who doesn’t read, cannot be a writer indeed.’

Anon.

So tonight, even though I have been awake since 3.30am when Miss four months thought the sun was up and so I am.

The very last thing I will do is seek wisdom from someone else.

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Just one thing.

IMG_0093.JPGThis spring my goal is to walk the beach everyday.

No matter how I feel.

No matter the weather.

Just walk.

This morning at 7.30am the grey clouds gathered, yet we walked.

Sometimes our goals are way to big and way to overwhelming, so we fail all the time.

When I walk the beach, I eat better, I feel better, I make better decisions, my emotions get a car wash.

What’s your one thing?

Just one little thing?

It could change your Summer?

And your Spring.

Maybe your year.

Just one little thing.

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Maybe your thing is to make something each day.

Maybe it’s to write something every day.

Maybe it’s to read something each day.

That is where capture 30 days began. I decided to something small every day for 30 days and a new habit was formed.

What is your one thing this October?

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I Learned Love Always Leaves a Scar

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I went into “missions” with the sole philosophy that I would not let it be about me.

“I am only here to serve them” was my personal mantra, and it sounds like a good one, doesn’t it?

But my attempt to wage war on my own narcissism was one of the most narcissistic moves I could have made.

I thought I could take my suburban middle class self into situations I had only ever seen in documentaries and come out unchanged.

I thought I was the only one with something to offer to the people I was serving. I thought it would be wrong to expect them to have anything to offer me.

But that’s not how human encounters work. Human encounters, the kind that change lives, they leave both parties affected.

And that is how you know you have crossed the line from charity to love.

Love always leaves a scar.

There was a homeless man who used to sit across the road from my work. Each day I would give him money when I passed and he would smile at me.

I thought I was doing a good thing, and maybe I was, but it was only charity.

I never sat down and got to know him.

I never heard his story.

I never learned from his hard lived life, because I assumed he had nothing to offer me.

I deemed him only worthy of my charity, not worthy of my love, not worthy of a real human interaction, not worthy of a scar.

I don’t know if altruism is possible, I don’t know if we are ever capable of being truly selfless, I don’t know if we will ever know because God designed giving releases endorphins.

But here is what I learned on the mission field:

Charity always feels good, love always leaves a scar.

I learned it piggybacking my shoeless friend after she gave her shoes to a prostitute in a brothel.

I learned it sitting across from a refugee as she swore she would return to her war torn country one day and change the government.

I learned it when a teacher from Pakistan on the Taliban’s most wanted list had to help me when teaching English class.

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I learned it when we said no to buying a bracelet from Nigerian hawkers but came back later with lunch, invited them to an art exhibition and watched their whole demeanor change.

I learned it when I could not leave a country because a girl younger than me needed help for her and her three children.

I learned that the mission field is not about charity, it is about love.

And when you choose to love people, when you choose to be affected by their stories, when you choose to let their worlds permeate within your own, you realise how silly it is to think that you could leave unaffected.

Because love always leaves a scar.

Speak again next Saturday,

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Trust without borders

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One of my most memorable moments of the last six months, was when two blogs combined powers to help a woman in need in a small village half way across the globe.

During those few short days, the readers from this blog and people around the world were moved with compassion for a stranger. A young woman who we will never meet, is currently studying english, has a roof over her head and is taking steps towards life change.

Bethany Bracegirdle was the catalyst for this journey and I have asked her to write each Saturday about her recent experiences on the mission field and her clash of culture as she lands back in her home town for the summer.

Her series is called ‘Trust without borders; lessons I learnt on the mission field.’

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She is an amazing writer, with a malleable heart, a raw honesty and a big future.

I couldn’t be more excited to have her write here on Capture life, during the month of August.

One more writer to introduce tomorrow and then our series begins.

#captureaugust with any photos or inspiration you are having along our journey together.

Thanks so much to all the contributors, you are all inspiring me already.

With love

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the free woman

the free woman

A few years ago I was contacted a young woman about her passion for writing after reading my first book capture 30 days.

Her name was Bethany Morris.

She is now 23 years old.

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A creative soul, a lover of all things wordy and she is delightful.

Living in Melbourne, loving life and all that it brings.

Earlier this year, Bethany wrote again telling me about a new project that she was working on called The Free Woman.

I have been eagerly awaiting her new adventure and today an interview that I did with Bethany about writing, creativity and inspiration went live.

Check out her little place in this wide old internet frontier.

I am always so excited about creative people (especially young women) getting out there and just having an amazing go!

Always

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Both Photos from The Free Woman