These are my reflections since being in Ukraine.
- Use your gifts and your talents: Be true to yourself. There is a reason God gave you these skills and abilities and he wants you to use them.
- Be around other Christians and non Christians. Both of these are good and neither is wrong. Spending time with other Christians recharges us, helps raise awareness to other ideas (and our faults) and provides a second model of what it is to be a Christian to people (there's a reason Paul always goes with someone else). Spending time with non Christians is the most likely way they will come to know Christ.
- Be intentional. Although we can be true to ourselves and our callings we still need to have purposeful desire and actions to see God's kingdom come. There's no use just expecting it to happen as a side effect.
- Pray: It's so simple. So obvious but so vital. Prayer powers us. A big lesson as well, prayer is more about listening than speaking. Something I still struggle with.
- Invite people to join in. Getting other people involved is great. They may discover a passion they didn't know or they may teach you a thing or two. Even if neither of these happen then still you can do tasks more effectively, show people a second example of Christ or let them examine your life close up (if they aren't a Christian) What's more so many people are waiting for someone to lead them. If you do then people will follow (which means responsibility)
- Join in with what other people are passionate about: If you find someone's passion then help them release it. Join in with things they do. This means giving up time. Time is valuable in fact it's probably the most precious thing we've got (hence why getting money for a charity is easier than volunteers) but other people need help to see their visions and dreams realised. Just like you do.
What would you add to this list?
Shall we look at some of these a bit deeper?
