It’s not been an easy return to school. As well as dealing with bubbles, one way systems, social distancing, face masks, and virtual worship. I’ve also had to contend with a lump on the head, a black eye, an eye infection, the arm falling off my glasses mid lesson; numerous seizures and currently a broken toe.

E and another friend asked after my toe today, and once I’d given the update they both mentioned something along the lines of “at least it’s healing”. E now has a new name on my phone – “bloody positive friend”. No matter what is going on she will find the positive and she will encourage me to find it as well – I’m sure she’d agree that there are times it’s much easier than others.

At our church we have a part of the service which is called “moment of the week” – an opportunity for us to share what has happened in our week and to thank God for it. I always used to be someone who could be relied upon to share something during this time but since September I struggled, and rarely contributed – after all everything seemed so rubbish. However, a couple of weeks ago I was meeting with my house group from church and as part of our discussion we read an extract from Philippians 2 where it talks about not grumbling and shining like stars.

I came to the realisation that at times it’s not going to obvious what my moment of the week is going to be, but if I search for it I will find where God is at work. This week my motw was the family friends colleagues and pupils taking care of me and my broken toe!

You may know I’m a strictly and GBBO fan, both of which have only been possible because people have been willing to sacrifice their families to be able to go in to different bubbles. Both of these programmes have bought smiles to people’s faces and strictly especially has bought the necessary sparkle. The passage in Philippians talks about shining like stars in the sky, but in order to do that we need to search for the good that’s happening, be willing to make sacrifices and share the brightness around.

Go on SHINE!