I’m currently reading a book called ‘One Day’. For the first time in ages I’m reading a fiction book.It has no Christian undertones, no profound purpose (although I’m sure the author would love to disagree), and even has swearing in it(!) (shock horror!). The annoying Christians are now pounding their fists and declaring their disgust at this. If you are one of these Christians, get over it and get out of your house more. Phew, rant over!

The book follows the lives of the two main characters. Each chapter takes place on the 15th July on consecutive years, starting 1989 as they both graduate from university, and finishing in 2006. It’s a good book, read half of it so far in a couple of days, will read some more once I’ve finished this blog entry.

As the book shows this whistle-stop tour of their lives, I can’t help but think about how quick their lives are going by. Years come and go, they have ups and downs, hoping that they would grow, learn from their mistakes and make the most of their lives. Then, I naturally think of my own life, but past the usual ‘doesn’t time fly!‘ thinking, and onto truly challenging myself. Somebody once said to me ‘make sure with each year of your life, you are growing and developing‘, and this has stuck with me. This plan to continually grow, develop, be challenged, be stirred, be envisioned, be determined,be motivated,be daring, be adventurous always sticks in my mind.

So today, I had a think of what I was doing one year ago on this very day, 2nd June 2009,and how have I changed since then? Have I grown spiritually? Have I developed my skills,talents and giftings? Have I been challenged this year to take risks? Have I been daring enough to try new things? Have I been adventurous in our lives? If we want to see dreams,visions and plans come to fruition in our lives, we need to be focused on growing now, we need to be thinking what we can do now to ensure we are doing all we can to get there in the future.

Shock horror! We can learn from books that aren’t ‘Christian’