I discovered to my surprise that someone had been reading my blog!  No-one had made any comment before.  I had given up writing because no-one posted a comment and I thought, "What's the point?" However, maybe the lack of written comment is a good thing, because it removes the burden of having to check and answer the posts.

Finding out someone had read it was part of my rumination as I watched the new Lime and Ginger marmalade come to the boil.  With a piece of toast smothered in Feijoa and Cardamom jam in my hand, I thought of the influence we exert on one another, knowingly or not. 

I want to learn more about the mystery of prayer - how what we say and whisper and think towards God affects him and how he responds to affect us and our circumstances.  Someone I spoke to recently talked about a time when she was speaking in tongues quietly during a prayer session so as not to disturb the other person praying nearby and suddenly she saw an angel bending over her as if to catch what she was saying so quietly.  "He was quite muscley and very big," she said.  If an angel was listening, surely there is a result from angels listening to what we pray in tongues.  They are, after all, beings with a mission to assist Christians.  How I wish I knew what I was saying in tongues even just occasionally.

There is a whole other dimension that we cannot normally see.  What we do and say affects more than we realise.  What we omit to say also has an effect - perhaps a lack or missed opportunities.  Maybe you would like to think with me about the things that hold us back from saying or praying things that literally have the power to change our sphere of influence.

In mid-September, Ian and I will be flying to Tanzania in order to help Bishop Given with a follow-up conference.  He wants us to offer more teaching on healing along the same lines as last year, but to go deeper He will also invite other churches around the area, so that they can benefit too.  We are thrilled to be a part of that sort of mission.

This time, there will be a team from Rangiora.  We plan to fly down there in mid-August and get to know them a bit and start to gel as a united team before we get there.

The jam has been walking steadily off the jam table and now the marmalade season is well and truly here.  I am about to make more Lime Marmalade.  The Three Fruits Maramalade is made of oranges, lemons and grapefruit.  I am hard-pressed to produce any jam now that the summer fruit season has gone, but Apricot and Peach jam will soon be there also, due to some unseasonable peaches turning up cheaply at my favourite greengrocery.

I have lately been teaching someone to make jam.  Maybe she will start to help and it won't all be on my shoulders.  That would be great!  Until then, I had better go - the jars are calling me...