Manna from Heaven

Being a Christian, I'd like to think I know the Bible pretty well ( I won't pretend to be an expert!) If you ask any Christian, I'm sure we all have 'favourite parts' of the Bible. As a child I was given a book called "food, glorious food!" and it was filled with Bible stories about food... I loved it! My favourite story was the story of 'manna', a food substance that God sent to stop the Israelites from starving in the desert, and quail... They ate that for 40 years!! (The story can be found in Exodus chapter 16)

I've often wondered how long it took for the novelty of 'manna' to wear off... I'm sure that after a while (possibly even weeks) some people - at least- were sick of 'manna' and Quail! And I'm sure eventually it became so normal people stopped questioning eating flakes from the ground and probably forgot how it even happened in the first place. What I'm trying to say is that I'm sure that, eventually, they began to take 'manna' for granted.

Now I promise there is a point to this and I'm not trying to bore you with R.E! That point is that we all have our own 'manna', little things that other people do that make our lives easier (not necessarily feeding you for the past 40 years!). I like to think of these things as 'soul manna', each thing is a little flake of love and when gathered together they make a meal (for your soul... This is a metaphor...). All too often these things go unnoticed, in fact sometimes it can be hard not to take them for granted, thier very nature is often covert. But it's important to be aware of them. So, I've decided (mostly for my own amusement) to create a list of 10 things that I consider 'soul manna': 

1. 
   

My neighbour sperates the post into pigeon holes every morning

1. 
   

My house mate almost always folds all the laundry

1. 
   

My Grandmas often send me cards checking how I am (often they contain money and that's nice because I am often skint!!) 

1. 
   

My partner usually does the washing up.

1. 
   

My parents regularly let me use them as an impromptu food bank/lending scheme! 

1. 
   

My Mum coaxes me out of bed with adventures and errands whenever I'm being lazy.

1. 
   

I get regular harassment and love from my friends and family.

1. 
   

My best friend is super chill about my inability to maintain contact unless under duress! 

1. 
   

My house mate dates the milk so we don't end up with 3 opened milks.

1. 
   

My house mate always make the coffee!

The list could go on for hours! Sometimes I like to think of a friend and list all of there specific 'manna'-isums... (Ha, punny!) And it helps me when I feel a little unloved, remembering all the tiny things I have to be greatful for.  

Having Tourette's you often have to accept that you need a little more help than some people, once you've accepted that, you then also have to be comfortable with and greatful for it. I'm a stubborn person really and I don't like admitting that I need help, perhaps that's why I am almost hyper-aware of people's need  to feel useful, I so often feel a little useless! All of these little things help me to get on with life, even in the smallest way. When little things are often a struggle any support (even sorting the post!) is helpful. Remembering all these things can make a difference too, just the knowledge that not even the simplest of tasks have to be completed alone is comforting to me. That love and warmth, hidden in small acts of dismissable kindness, can feed the soul!  

So the next time you feel 'hungry' (restless or fed up) why not look for some 'manna'  ('soul manna').