John 15:1-2 NLT 
 
'I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.'
 
Last year I decided to train for my Trinity Certificate in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). I wanted to have something that I might trade with as I grew older, that would also be recognised internationally and enable me to live outside the UK if necessary. It was also a deepening response to my call to walk the way of a contemplative. God does not expect his people to live off charity, but to be able to meet their own immediate needs. Living on the edge of Southampton, there were many foreign language speakers, and I could arrange tutoring around the Oratory. 
 
In determining if I should train, I had to consider the value of the course to what God wanted for the Oratory and my life of prayer. I knew life would be disturbed by the training and teaching. I was fairly comfortable with my life and so to interrupt that rhythm was going to prove painful. It was a part of the pruning process. It was not that I wasn’t being fruitful, but God wanted me to be even more fruitful. I now volunteer at a local asylum centre, where I teach English to those arriving in the UK with nothing, from desperate circumstances. This is a fresh opportunity to express hospitality and hope, two of the three purposes that form the Oratory’s heart.  
 
I maintained my peace in God throughout the month’s intensive training, I love engaging with language learners, and I keep an outward focus on our Oratory’s life of prayer. The branches that God had already cultivated were pruned hard so that they might become even more fruitful. It’s with great excitement I look to all that lies ahead and all that I will learn by the grace of God. 
 
Never be afraid to reach out for fresh opportunities in God. Don’t let age, or society’s perspective on age, hold you back. I love the fact that God’s grace is new every morning.  
 
QUESTION: What new challenges might God be calling you to consider? 
 
PRAYER: May I hear your voice clearly, Lord, as I face change. 

Released on 20 Jul 2020