We have wars. We have disasters....

...We have things called tectonic plates which keep shifting and causing havoc.  The centre of our planet is hotter than any of us can imagine.  The ozone layer is damaged.  So, what's so good about this spinning ball of rock!  Then we have to contend with  those that inhabit it.  Can't they be a right bunch of grouchy, tricky, needy, greedy, difficult, cussed characters at any time?

Then again, this Earth is beautiful, nature is majestic and the human race, for all its faults, is awash with truly wonderful people.

Procrastination is not only the thief of time, it is the grave of opportunity.

I have just finished....

....reading The Shack.  It has made me leap for joy.  It has made me weep.  It has stretched me in ways I cannot begin to describe, and for which I am truly thankful.  I could quote so much from it, but this paragraph will do very well -


Part of Jesus' response to 'You're not too fond of religion and institutions?' -

'.....Like I said, I don't create institutions; that's the occupation for those who want to play God.  So, no, I'm not too big on religion, and not very fond of politics or economics either.  And why should I be?  They are the man-made trinity of terrors that ravages the earth and deceives those I care about.  What mental turmoil and anxiety does any human face that is not related to one of those three?'

Experience teaches us....

....that the best rarely occurs. It begins to seem as if we cannot hope for much more than second-best. Always, there will be some kind of compromise to contend with. If we are wise and fortunate we may look back and realise later that it is just as well things didn't turn out the way we had originally hoped. What we thought was bad, was actually good.

That said, sometimes, just sometimes, we do get what we want and it is right.

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply 

gives you courage.   (Lao Tzu)

Often we race around doing....

....things that do not need to be done. We act before we stop to consider the consequences. We end up expending vast amounts of energy, only to realise later that we must work just as hard to undo whatever we have done. It takes great strength and understanding to do nothing at a time when the whole world seems to think you should be doing something.

The fact remains, though, that you are better off doing a little wisely rather than a lot in the wrong sort of a hurry.

Love does not possess, and neither will it be possessed (Kahlil Gibran)

Why on earth do we....

....insis on measuring age just by the clock or the calendar. There are some children who are wise beyond their years. And there are some nonagenarians who still, given half a chance, bicker like squabbling toddlers. Nor is it ever wise for us to equate wisdom with chronology.  Definitely not. 

No matter how old someone is, they can always make a new discovery that changes everything for the better if only they are willing to keep an open-mind.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.   (Mark Twain)

We don't like to ask....

....each other questions. We feel a little embarrassed about the answers that we may receive and we feel that perhaps, it would be wisest simply to ignore sensitive topics. We may also feel that, in being this polite, we are saving someone from the awkwardness of having to discuss a matter that they find disturbing.

Yet, no genuinely meaningful dialogue can ever occur without some candour and honesty.

People are funny. They spend money they don't have, to buy things they don't need, 

to impress people they don't like.

You just need to flick through....

.... the news channels to see endless examples of the human race at its least humane, interspersed with experts droning dryly on about matters that are immensely emotive and important. When they are not commentating on conflicts, they are telling us about the other seemingly insolvable problems in our world.

Yet what is it that we truly have a shortage of? Just  this: imagination and compassion with understanding. That is all the world needs.

Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.   (Euripides)