Feeling loved and honoured

The theme for the Advent period at St Philips has been honouring and it has awakened me to what it really looks or feels like to honour and be honoured.  Well, I think I have had the experience – a deep, deep on the inside kind of honour, not in the way the dictionary describes honour by giving an award, but by an act of love and kindness as shown to me by a group of women who visit St Philips throughout the year.  It came in the shape of a fluffy, yellow, hand-made baby romper suit with exquisite smocking and embroidered ducklings on it. It is so beautiful I had to include a picture of it…

So, what does a baby present have to do with honour?It is not the present that does it (although this is an exceptional heirloom piece). It is the act of recognising in someone (me, in this case) something that is true, commendable, pure, pleasing. (See this in Philippians 4:8.) This is what heralds a feeling of being honoured.For me, this gift was an act of love that recognises something pure and pleasing in me:  God has blessed me with being a mother and soon I will be a grandmother!The women who honoured me in this way are the Sewing Group who meet here 20 or so times a year.  They aren’t people I know well but I know they have something very special - they listen with their hearts, not their heads.I love the way they all drift in to the sewing group, in their own space with their own pieces of work and then set about sewing their lives together as they chat away about all manner of things. All the while they are listening and listening and listening some more, honouring one another by being attentive. No judgment, no solutions, but a lot of love and laughter and belonging.  To them all - Bridget, Mary Ellen, Kay, Sue, Pam, Jan, Rosemary, June and Christine - I say thank you for your love and kindness. I am honoured by it.When I see Malcolm honouring those at St Philips who are serving others in the world, the nation, the local area – that is, commendable, true, pleasing, just, excellent or praiseworthy contributions –  I  now understand the depth of what this honour means. The honour goes three ways, flowing from Our Heavenly Father to the honoured and the honourer.So keep on doing the things that affirm those you know – it is honouring.With Christmas love to you allMargaret (Administrator)