Read Nats thoughts during 2007

Who is Nat?

My name is Natalie Husk, although most people call me Nat (except my parents!). I was born and raised in Cornwall and am proud of it! I have always been involved in the church, whether going to my local village chapel in Common Moor, joining with bus loads from Cornwall at MAYC events, helping at the District Children’s Holiday or even attending Synod a few times! I am very thankful to the Cornwall District, the Liskeard & Looe Circuit and of course Common Moor chapel for being such valuable parts in my journey of faith.

Today I live in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, where I work as a youth worker for the Methodist Church. I run after school clubs, youth clubs, a youth fellowship, do outreach work and organise trips away. Not long ago I was asked by a youth group, to give them a weekly topic for reflection, an email containing something to focus them on God for the week. So every week I sit at my computer and write down my thoughts! It started quite small, with just the young people receiving them, and now lots of people of all ages find my thoughts in their email inbox!

It is a huge privilege for me to find that people enjoy and are challenged by what I have written, especially that I can now share what God has done for me with those who walked with me at the beginning of my journey. Ultimately these reflections are aimed at the young people I now work with, but if God can speak to others through them, how great is that!!

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2007

9th July
Smells

2nd July
Smile

26th June
Waterlogged

11th June
Plans

6th June
Letters

21st May
Friends

May 9th
Stereotypes

May 1st
Broken

April 16th
Climbing hills

April 9th
The Three Trees

March 28th
Toby the SuperDog

March 19th
Mountains

March 4th
Lone Daffodil

February 26th
Working hours

February 19th
Memory

February 12th
Piercings

February 5th
Patience

January 29th
Surprise

January 22nd
Wind

January 15th
Honesty

January 8th
My Car

January 3rd
Happy New Year

Smile
2^nd July

Did you know that a smile is the most contagious thing on the planet? When someone flashes you a smile, you can’t help but be uplifted and before you know it, you’re beaming in response. Be it toothy, lopsided, or just a slight upturning of the lips, a grin can pass from person to person to person in no time at all. We can find ourselves smiling without really knowing why we are, but simply as a reaction to the facial movements of people in our line of sight. Yesterday I smiled a lot – both as a sign of my own happiness and also in response to those around me who were beaming.

Two of my good friends got married yesterday, which is cause for a smile or too I feel! I have never seen such big grins as they declared their love for each other in front of God and the people they love. For them this day was something they could only dream of for so long, and now that it had arrived, I’m not sure it felt quite real. But the happiness and joy that was shared by all at the event was 100% real, with our cheeks aching at the mega-smile-fest, as we watched a loving couple enjoy the happiest day of their lives!

For me one thing that helped in the gladness of the day was the extra thought and care that had gone into the celebration. Their were organised games of pass the parcel for the children, sweets and goodies for the adults and music to life the soul (with the exception of one too many country tracks!). The children were smiling, the adults were smiling and I am pretty sure that God was smiling too.

There are a number of books on the smile of God, written by folk more educated, more experienced, more holy than me. How then can I, someone who seems to be frowning a lot more than I should be, someone who is uneducated in fancy theory of theology, someone ordinary, talk about the smile of God?? I guess what qualifies me most is being a recipient of the wonderful, cheery, joy-filled smile of God. As I sat watching the laughter, the smiling and the general delight of the wedding party yesterday, I came up with a theory…..

…if smiling is contagious, if it passes freely over age, gender, culture and language barriers then it must start somewhere. I reckon it starts with God. He first smiles and then those that are lucky enough to see this heavenly grin will automatically start to smile, which in turn creates a Mexican wave style smile covering the globe. Now I don’t know about you but I’ve never seen God’s face smiling down at me from the clouds – and if I did I think I’d be more afraid than delighted! But I have seen God’s smile in the beautiful rainbow on a miserable day, on the face of stunning flowers, in the majestic sunset, in the carefree laughter of children, in the perfection of a newborn baby, in the hug from a friend, in the union of two people so very much in love. God’s smile is so obvious, so often beaming out at us that we often fail to recognise it. We see good sights, eat good food, share good friendships, experience good things and yet how often do we really see God’s smile within it and pass that smile on? I know I don’t do it nearly enough. If smiling is so fun, why then am I so bad at it?

So this week, as there is more rain forecast, as work or school pressures get you down, as you find yourself bickering with friends or family, I challenge you to search for the smile of God and then to pass it on. It may surprise you how fast the joy can spread!