Uprooted and reoriented

I have done it! It is now 1 August and I managed the sum total of 339922 steps from 1 to 31 July for Hope Health Action. Quite an achievement for mebut it tunr sout making time to walk means less time to blog, so excuse the lack of postings since the 17th!

While on a long walk last Sunday I came across this old, uprooted tree:

This got me thinking about the people I had been walking for... how their lives were uprooted so cruelly in such a sudden manner; how all that gave them security was taken from them and how they had to reorient themselves completely in a new country, with new needs and sadly, new traumas. Uprooting a young tree still gives hope for replanting, but what if your entire life has been in one place and all your strength has been there. With the tree above it seems impossible that it might continue to live if any attempt is made to replant it. Even dragging it into another position (reorienting it) looks almost impossible. And yet that is what Hope Health Action is doing as a charity for the people of South Sudan now living in BidiBidi settlement in Uganda. No matter what people have been through, charities like Hope Health Action take genuine action to bring hope and healing.

It has been a privilege to uproot myself just a little (from my couch to walking more often) and to reorient my distinct distaste for exercise into something energising for others.

Thank you for all the wonderful donations. The JustGiving page raised £350. I also had a cheque for £50 and one for £20 to give directly to Hope Health Action and a further £200 in cash to hand over tomorrow.

To read:

1 Timothy 4:9b-11

'We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience'

To reflect:

A month of walking more than 10 000 steps a day has born fruit in many ways for me. I am physically fitter and stronger, I have greater resolve than before and Hoep Health Action's emergency appeal for people in BidiBidi settlement in Uganda is a little bit closer to its goal. I have enjoyed the exercise despite the challenge for me as someone who was very unfit, and I am determined to beat my steps during August to aid another charity.

What fruit have you born this month or could you bear this next one?

Prayer:

Why not make the above prayer your own for Hope Health Action and the people it supports?