Powerful message in Chapel
Whakanuia te piringa o Te Atua ki tō ao
Celebrate the presence of God in your life:
express gratitude to God for everything you actually have already.
Give thanks for 10 things in your life that bring you happiness often.
Appreciating the good means that the good appreciates in the economy of God.
He whare tapu tō tinana nō te Wairua Tapu
Your Body is a temple of the Holy Spirit:
rise up and walk, run a good race, exercise as you can
to enjoy the body that you have been given.
Sadness and stress can be tempered this way.
Ki ea te nohonga pukutanga o te pō i te kai whakaora o te ata
Break the fast of the night with a good nourishing breakfast:
begin your day with the God given fruits of the earth.
You are strengthening not only your body, but your mind also.
Kōrero pono i runga i te aroha
Speak the truth in love:
be assertive courteously, ask for what you need and say what you think respectfully. Smouldering in silence is not healthy for you or the community in which you live.
In this way sadness and hopelessness are mitigated.
Kia whakapaua tō kaha ki ngā ara o te aroha me te pai
Spend and be spent in the ways of love and goodness:
invest your wealth and goods for your own education and awareness
and make your resources available for others.
There is more wellbeing to be enjoyed this way than majoring on acquiring more things.
Kawea ake ngā manuka kei mua i a koe
Face your challenges:
look your Goliath in the eye. Anxiety reduces when you look at a problem squarely
and don’t shrink from it.
Don’t postpone the tasks that need to be done.
Kia karapotia koe e ngā tuhinga me ngā whakaahua whakauruhau
Place uplifting texts and pictures around you:
Fill your fridge door, your desk, your life with positive memories and signs of life:
‘Think on these things.’
Kawea te mihi rangimārie i ngā wā katoa
Always bring a greeting of peace:
be kind, look on others as originally made in the image of God.
Don’t be a doormat, but share your care with clarity.
Me mau hū hāneanea, pakari hoki
Wear comfortable strong shoes:
‘How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of them that bring good news.’
Pay attention to the way you walk, this can be much more important than you think.
Kia aro ki tō tūranga
Pay attention to your posture:
Lift up your head. Walk as upright as you are able, look up and out and forward.
The world is there to be enjoyed and you can walk into what goodness there is
and what life-giving environment there is every day.
Kia kaha te whakarongo ki ngā waiata papai
Listen to good music often:
‘God listens to me when I pray. God loves me when I sing. ‘
Your body, mind and spirit are blessed by singing.
Kia hauora te kai, ā, manaakitia te tangata
Enjoy healthy meals and practise hospitality:
nourish your own God given life with food that is good for you:
Share this goodness around by making meals for guests
and those who aren’t expecting it.
Kia atawhai koe i a koe anō
Be kind to yourself:
The Rabbi Hillel, a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth said;
“If I am not for myself, then who will be,
But if I am for myself alone, then what am I?’
Receive the blessing that God gifts you every day in prayer
and let that make you a person of blessing for others.
E toru ngā mea pūmau; kia whakapono ki ēra hei whāinga māu
Three things that last: believe in them and live that way:
Faith, Hope and Love last for ever the way that God has created the universe.
Trust in these truths and these ways of being in the world with everything you’ve got.
This is the way to spiritual wellness and buoyancy in the long run,
when everything else has passed away.
As the author John Ronald Reuel Tolkien has written,
about the gift of heavenly starlight on the eve of a perilous journey:
“May it be to you a light in dark places, when all other lights go out.”