A stake in the ground ... night 15/40

My little confession is that I'd been planning a different title for this post, something along the lines of 'What is a Headmaster for?' Why? Not because I really can't imagine what one of them might do all day - I shudder to think of the mass of things they have to deal with, and deal with well - but rather because I discovered the answer that really mattered last night!

And? Well a real Headmaster takes the time and effort to wrap up warm, head out into the freezing dark to offer his 'Lent in a Tent' Chaplain a tipple of outstanding Malt and a dose of invigorating camaraderie far too late into the night! There's your answer. I know because that's what mine did!

But instead of that post we have a stake ... a stake in the ground. Actually, thanks to the kindness of Mary, Jim, Seamus and a gang of 3rd Formers we have 40 of them.

I'm so grateful to the 'stake-makers', and now we can count down the final 26 nights all the way to the last number 1.

A post on stakes ... sounds like a fence on stilts but there's a little more to it than meets the eye.

40 stakes in the ground; for me each one a personal stake in the ground ... a marker of intent to be a part of something important, something bigger, something to remember.

At the orphanage there are stakes in the ground everywhere. There are the stakes that literally hold up buildings until they're set to stand alone ...

But just like here, there are far more important stakes in the ground ... living and breathing stakes; stakes that represent decisions taken, sacrifices offered, life choices made and others denied. Each living stake marks a life chance given for a little girl here, a little boy there, a widow in need or a family in care.

The same is true for every single donor on the 'Lent in a Tent' donation page. Each one, arriving by a single click, has sunk a stake in the ground and declared their desire to take a stand and make a difference.

Your stake may say 5, 10, 20, 40, 100 or more ... but each one declares the same intent not to let this moment pass by, but instead to become part of something different. And the fantastic thing is that the difference is both ends. We change by giving, and the orphanage changes by receiving.

Thank you to all whose stake is now in the ground ... every bit as real as the ones by my tent. If you'd like to stake your intent to be a part of this special moment of change, then please ...

click here to make a donation