March Cub Club

Simon Peter

“Think before you act!” — my Mum, sometime in 1997.

I remember my parents saying this to me all the time. It’s one of the reasons the story of Simon Peter connects with me so deeply.Of course, the way God has made us means that sometimes we don’t think before we act — sometimes we just know the right thing to do, and we do it. Other times… it seems the opposite!

We see the instinctive impulse so clearly in our Little Ones. They speak before thinking, leap before looking, touch before asking.

Simon is that child, growing up in the slow world of fishing while wired for action and reaction. I wonder if the work of mending nets and waiting for fish felt like torture, or whether it was a welcome rest for his brain to be doing a repetetive, tactile task with the sound of the waves lapping the shore in the background.

But rather than always treating our impulsiveness as something to be stamped out, Simon’s story hints that our impulsiveness can be an expression of courage.

When a child acts first and thinks after, there is often a good desire hiding inside: curiosity, passion, a longing to help. Nurturing faith in children — and childlike faith in ourselves — so often simply means pausing just long enough to notice what is happening in our hearts and around us. A simple breath, a quick question – “What are you hoping will happen?” – can turn a leap of disaster into a leap of faith.

And what about us? We sign up before reading the details, speak our mind a little too quickly, start new projects before finishing old ones. Childlike faith invites us to keep bringing our first reactions to God, allowing him to say, “Come with me; let’s use this energy for heavenly purposes, not just human purposes.”

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News

I’m working with one of my favourite Christian musicians on some ambient music to accompany the new card. His name is Cephas Azariah, go check him out!

And finally, as always

Cub Club loves to share the love. If you have a friend who’d be encouraged by this month’s short thought, hit forward and pass it on!

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Love, as ever,

Benedict