So... early on in my ordained life I found myself in the local paper and then on BBC Essex radio. It was found to be interesting that I had been ordained at 28 years old and I am a mum.
These early experiences led to me receiving a new nickname from some of my colleagues... Mother Media was born!
Yesterday found the return of Mother Media. I was invited to go on to BBC Essex radio and review the Sunday papers.
The start of the interview was all about me and my journey, where I am now, and my role as a member of clergy. I then had to talk about three newspaper articles I had chosen.
I first spoke about the hurricane that has affected Haiti, and the sadness I feel in my heart that those people are going through so much.
I then spoke about Donald Trump's comments on women that had been recorded 11 years ago; and then fact that we live in an age where anything we say or do can be recorded and kept for future use.
The third article I looked at wasn't something that would make headline news; in fact it showed a large picture of the model Daisy Lowe wearing nothing but her underwear. She talked in the article about her past insecurities, her body image, the fact that there was a time when she didn't want to leave the house. This article hit me hard as soon as I read it. She is a year younger than I am and as I read I completely got it! We live in a time where school children are conscious about their weight, their looks, what clothes they wear. Models and tv stars are often airbrushed in magazines to look close to perfect, and young people want to be like that.
Like I say, I get it. I've been on diets on and off for what seems like most of my life. I look back at pictures of when I thought I was fat, but in fact I was healthily slim!
This story hit me hard because I realised that there must be soooo many people out there who 'get it' too. Those who look in the mirror and don't like what they see, or who compare themselves to others, or brush off compliments as people just being nice.
Someone once said to me 'God made you so don't bad mouth his creation'. I absolutely have to remind myself of that sometimes.
But to anyone reading this, you are beautiful. You are God's creation and He creates beautiful things out of his love. We just need to love ourselves as much as He loves us.
These early experiences led to me receiving a new nickname from some of my colleagues... Mother Media was born!
Yesterday found the return of Mother Media. I was invited to go on to BBC Essex radio and review the Sunday papers.
The start of the interview was all about me and my journey, where I am now, and my role as a member of clergy. I then had to talk about three newspaper articles I had chosen.
I first spoke about the hurricane that has affected Haiti, and the sadness I feel in my heart that those people are going through so much.
I then spoke about Donald Trump's comments on women that had been recorded 11 years ago; and then fact that we live in an age where anything we say or do can be recorded and kept for future use.
The third article I looked at wasn't something that would make headline news; in fact it showed a large picture of the model Daisy Lowe wearing nothing but her underwear. She talked in the article about her past insecurities, her body image, the fact that there was a time when she didn't want to leave the house. This article hit me hard as soon as I read it. She is a year younger than I am and as I read I completely got it! We live in a time where school children are conscious about their weight, their looks, what clothes they wear. Models and tv stars are often airbrushed in magazines to look close to perfect, and young people want to be like that.
Like I say, I get it. I've been on diets on and off for what seems like most of my life. I look back at pictures of when I thought I was fat, but in fact I was healthily slim!
This story hit me hard because I realised that there must be soooo many people out there who 'get it' too. Those who look in the mirror and don't like what they see, or who compare themselves to others, or brush off compliments as people just being nice.
Someone once said to me 'God made you so don't bad mouth his creation'. I absolutely have to remind myself of that sometimes.
But to anyone reading this, you are beautiful. You are God's creation and He creates beautiful things out of his love. We just need to love ourselves as much as He loves us.