I'm not going to post....

...a blog today, for you to read. You have not done enough to deserve it. It is not allowed. Instead, you can have a lecture about the need to behave better. And a reminder of various activities that are neither possible nor permissible. Consider yourself constrained, restricted and reprimanded. Now, how do you feel about that?

 

 

Well, that's exactly my point. Just as I have no right to give you a hard time, you have no right to give yourself one. Refuse to accept negativity, whatever shape it takes.

A different type of blog....

Many weeks ago I felt both honoured and humbled to be invited to lead the Harvest Festival celebrations at a church about 5 miles away.  The primary reason for the invitation was my work with Norwich foodbank and that church's support of it.  Nevertheless, they went out on a limb and specifically reqested that I lead - me, still a raw rookie.....still with the 'trainee' tag.  The date of this - 16 Sept.

On the way to the church, I glanced at a parting in a hedgerow and this poetic image of a freshly harvested field and horses in a paddock met my gaze on a bright autumnal morning.  It was the 'Hollywood impression' of our countryside.  At that singular point I realised that no matter the trials and tribulations we have to endure, we are truly blessed.  We just don't stop for a pregnant pause and count our blessings enough - and that is nobody's fault but our own.

After the church service I was told that 'Requesting you was an inspired decision'.  'Brilliant service.'  'One of the most memorable HF services I've attended.'    This just had to be God driven and God led.  If you who are reading this do not believe, then you do need to realise that it was driven and guided by an entity not of this world yet fully part of it.  

Me?  I left that church giving thanks to The Boss, and hit the 'Why me, why have I been chosen.....?' trail.  Still on it, as a matter of fact.  Oh, and I went back to those trials and tribulations - failed health, failing car, slow, failing computer, no funds, no family support for that which I do............

Someone once said - You will certainly carry out God’s purpose, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John.  My fight, my daily fight, is to stop myself being the former.  And yet I know that for some reason that I will never fully understand, I am truly blessed.

Have a great day.

No kind action ever stops with itself....

...One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.

God who made the birds never made bird cages. It's men who make bird cages and after a while

we become cramped and can do nothing but chirp and stand on one leg  (Oswald Chambers)

The convention in....

...... polite society is that we don't tell each other our troubles. We may say, 'How are you?' But the expected answer is simply, 'Fine thanks, and you?' It is a social formality. It is not intended to give rise to a long list of complaints.

These days, we don't uphold this protocol so much. We whinge too easily. (And aren't there a lot of people who complain for no good reason whatsoever!!)  We are not so shy to share our frustrations. In the process, we sometimes give them more currency and significance than they truly deserve.

Let bygones be bygone...

... Life's too short for rancour and recrimination. Build bridges, don't burn them. Reach out the hand of reconciliation. Let loose the white dove of peace and tolerance. Be big-hearted and generous. And look a little more forgivingly at that person in the mirror, after all, there but for the grace of God goes you! 

Things happen from time to time, we have to learn from them and move on.

Wherever there is love...

... there is hope. Wherever there is hope, there is possibility. That's why it is so important to feel love in your heart for someone or something, no matter what is tempting you to close off or to hide behind a psychological barrier.

Love leads to inspiration. Inspiration leads to the discovery of opportunity. Never mind who loves you, or doesn't, or why. Never mind what you feel about what anyone else feels. Just find some love from deep within yourself and let it touch you, soften you and uplift you.