Morning Thought for Friday February 13^th

Good morning on this last morning of my Morning Thoughts this time I want to share with you about what both my husband and I agree was and is the most encouraging part of our last trip. In December a group of nine of us from the island were privileged to go to Romania to distribute Mustard Seed Christmas shoeboxes and visit Mustard Seed projects.

Mustard Seed has been assisting needy people in Romania for over 10 years. We have seen a huge amount of change and progress and we have built up strong relationships with some of the people there. It was in November 1998 that we first went to the very needy gypsy village of Urvind and we have continued helping there ever since.

One of the characters we got to know is Valentine. When we first knew him he was a small skinny difficult ten year old. It was decided he was educationally subnormal and he was clearly hyper-active. When we first knew him he was filthy and on one of the first visits when a volunteer hugged him, she found she had caught fleas. But over the years we have seen him work hard at school, make good progress, mature and really improve himself. When I presented Morning Thought in 2007, one morning I spoke about Valentine. It was then that we had heard that he was starting to build himself a small house in the gypsy village of Urvind.

When we went to Urvind this time we met up with Valentine and he proudly invited us to his home. To be honest, it is rather a Keith Robinson affair, a one room house built with mud bricks without a single straight wall in it, and with a window, door and furniture from one of the Mustard Seed aid consignments. But I was impressed, very very impressed and pleased and so was my husband – this is Valentine a disadvantaged lad rising above his difficulties and taking full advantage of the opportunities he was given. His little house is wind and water tight – how many of us could build a house to live in made out of mud bricks and scavenged materials?

Phil and I both felt so proud of Valentine and what he has achieved, it brought a real lump to my throat. And we feel so very privileged to have been a part of the provision that has ultimately made Valentine become self-sufficient and independent.

In the Bible we can read about how Jesus Christ spoke about His pleasure when His followers make good use of the talents and resources and opportunities offered to them. The Master said “Well done you good and faithful servant” to those servants who received talents and put them to work and increase. But to the servant who did nothing with the talent given to him, the Master was disappointed and took away that talent and gave it to someone else who would put it to good use.

A prayer: Lord God help us to make good use of all the opportunities that come to us today.

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