Thursday 20 December 2012

So this is what the other half do?

Helpful tip: try to avoid cracks, puddles and cars.


Last night I told my wife I was going Christmas shopping. I have to confess that she has done almost everything on that front. But I console myself with the fact that I'm the hunter/gatherer and she is the...spender; what did cave women do in their spare time?

So I took the advice of an expert, I didn't wear clothing that would make me too warm as I walked around shops (no 'jumper'/'sweater'), took the train (no parking issues), and did a bit of planning before I set off.

But I didn't reckon on it being Thursday night, not a Saturday afternoon. This means two things: I'd been at work all day so I was spent before I was spending and, as only the desperate shop at that time of night it wasn't so busy, and a third thing (which has just popped into my head making this a very long sentence) is that it is colder in the night (didn't you know).

So, I found I was cold, was sent back and forth by sales assistants to their 'other store' across the city, wondered what the rest of the shoppers were doing at home who were supposed to be out there with me, and...it was raining and my shoes were NOT waterproof, it turns out. In fact, I could feel the bit that was coming apart at the sole with every step.
And when I say raining, I mean raining in the West of Scotland kind of way. I looked like a child avoiding the cracks as I tried desperately to find a bit of the pavement without a puddle.
So I got home exhausted at about 13 hours after I'd first left it in the morning.

Now, here's a question: is this really what some women call a hobby?

But I have to concede what a joy a bookstore can be. Let's here it for the Waterstone store that soldiers on against the online onslaught. It seems to be the only major one left in town. You stand there, not a puddle in sight, the assistants approach you to help in a friendly way and you get lost reading a very interesting book in a section and forget what you came for.

I did my bit to support them- but what I did has to remain a surprise!

Monday 17 December 2012

Extracting Good from Evil

With a class of six-year-olds and five of my own, it's natural that the Newtown tragedy in the US has an impact on my own thoughts.

I looked at my own children and thought 'what if I didn't see them again?' What if something so horrible happened to them- then you have to stop thinking along those lines. But it simply makes you realise the need to value them in preference to the limitless number of things that can get in the way.
"Wouldn't life be great if I did X,Y,Z?" Well, maybe life would seem better. But wouldn't someone else be much happier if I did A,B,C?
In fact, A,B,C is very likely to be my primary duty. And some duties towards my own children only I can do. A,B,C is also staring at me and X,Y,Z is often Walter Mitty or Ideal Dad material.

I worry if I'm a good teacher. All the time. Sometimes I just want to give up. But then I hear another teacher say something similar and I realise I'm not alone. We can't all give up.
But when I posed this to a priest friend of mine months ago he asked me 'do you love them?' And of course I said I did.

The wisdom in this is something for another post. What is it to educate?

Do I love the children I teach? How do I show this? Do I respect their dignity? Do I contribute to them earning a bad reputation by the way I speak to colleagues about them? Am I always acting in their best interests and not just 'spouting off', letting off steam at their expense? Am I sarcastic?

What if one of these children wasn't to turn up the next day? And what if that was it? If I only had memories of our relationship what would it be? What is my relationship with each child in my care?

When they are in my class I am acting 'in loco parentis'. How am I actively working on loving these children before me, modelling myself on the love the Father has for each one of us?

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Look at my car, of course there's a God

I was in a rush to work a couple of days ago, made all the more hectic by the winter frost we've been having. But amidst frantic scrubbing of frost off the car windows I was stopped in my tracks, as it were, by the look of my car roof.


I was glad I wasn't having to brush it off, it would have felt cruel. It made me immediately think of the wonder of creation. From a more argumentative perspective, it made me wonder how people could look at the complexity of such small features of beauty and say 'this is all by chance'.
It reminds me of two further points. The first being the complexity of snowflakes, that doesn't need the assertion that 'no two snowflakes are the same' to be true to make you gaze in wonder at these chilled feathers from heaven (don't my car frost patterns resemble feathers so wonderfully?)

The second point is regarding evolution, of all things!
It matters little to Catholics weather God created the world with or without his tool of evolution. Evolution within species has plenty of evidence. Even humans have evolved in time. However, when I recently read that the Theory of Evolution has not one single example to prove it as the explanation of the 'origin of species', this made me wonder again at God's more direct Providence.
Creationists, as I remember from Higher Biology at school, believe God to have created everything at a particular moment in time. Well, that was one extreme view presented to us. Certainly, He is proposed as having created each specie directly, not one from another. Subsequently, another year at university studying Biology still confirmed in my own mind the idea that evolution was the answer to the origins of life.

But there still is an evidence gap I have discovered. So, when I suddenly realised that evolution as the origin of species is a theory that has become an assumption for the order and variety I see around me, I felt slightly duped.
I felt duped that I could have been wondering at God's direct involvement in my life through the material world I saw around me all through my life. Instead I'd been persuaded to see God somewhere distant at the beginning, pushing the big ball of mass off His table to start the Big Bang. He was so far removed, with milions of years of evolution separating us, that God couldn't be realistically perceived, nowhere had He left His mark in my environment.

But now, with evolution back into it's proper scientific status as a theory, I could wonder again at Providence as more immediately graspable. And if evolution as the origin of species, as God's chosen tool of Nature, is proven, so be it. I'm still a Catholic. God is still the Author. God is still the Boss.
One final point. How clever then is God to have thought of evolution, if it is proven to be all some would like to be. In all it's complexity, it's a means of masking his Providence from those who want to deny His existence. It gives a means to ultimate freedom of intellect -to put God at the centre and science as a servant of Truth or Science at the centre and God as just a tool.
Pity you if the latter is all you have, it's a pittance.

Choose the former and be filled with Love and Wonder.

Let's 'ear it for the funny side of things

What I'm about to impart will not perhaps be a universal experience. In fact, maybe you had to be there to appreciate it. But I can't help myself relate it.

My wife and I have deal. I can do her nails because I've lots of experience of keeping mine in trim for playing the classical guitar, and she can trim the hair out of my ears.

So last night she started on the left ear. No problem. Then she did the right one and the fun began. I just couldn't stop laughing. And as she tried to clip the hair as my head moved about she was laughing as well. Have you ever tried to cut something while it moves? I was imagining handing my right ear around friends saying 'never mind the blood, look how hairless it is!'

Saturday 8 December 2012

Praying in class

I pray with my children in class at school in the morning and, I suppose, I try to do that part of the day well. Being the infant department it may go downhill from there.

One part of it is to prepare children a little so that they're not just doing it as a rote learned exercise. But yes, there is a value even in that. In the short time available at that point in the day I vary which one prayer we use as an offering for our petitions in order that we don't neglect the memorisation of all our basic prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be- they are only six years of age). So, there is a rote memorisation going on over time.
  1. However, I try to introduce a prayerful attitude to start with. This is very, very important. It's an education in sincerity. Besides why they are praying, I also try to remind them of Who they are praying to. Who's listening anyway? Who are they talking to?
    'Let's try to think of God who loves us so much. That's why we are alive. He made us because He loves us so much, more than you can ever imagine. So let's pray to Him and offer Him something back for everything He gives us...'
  2. We then do the Morning Offering.
     
  3. Then each group in my class gets a turn at offering verbal petitions, one group per day. But others can add their own 'if it's serious and can't wait 'til it's your turn'. 

    This is a chance to remember those who have died and for occasional reminders that we are even more important than the animals we pray for often (because we are made in God's image and likeness). This is helpful because the children see the immediate relevance of praying. They understand why they should pray with some seriousness because someone's mum is ill or brother has an exam. All they can do to help is pray. It's real. I always add that we pray for the pupils, staff and all their families in our own school and the non-denominational school we are joined to. God is the Father and Our Lady the Mother of all of us.
  4. Then I choose a prayer and briefly remind them of the purpose in that particular prayer. For example 'remember that we owe everything to God, so we pray the Glory Be to offer everything back to God in return for Him giving us all we have that is good'.

    Especially for the longer Our Father and Hail Mary, I try to briefly explain a part of the prayer so that they aren't 'just saying it' i.e. without understanding. I don't expect an overnight result but this is a case of chiseling away at adult language barriers for children and allowing them to enter into the prayer a little bit. For example, 'Who art in Heaven' is just an old, beautiful way of saying 'Who is in Heaven' so He sees everything and we want to go and be with Him'. Who knows, maybe one day they'll say to their own children or someone else 'my teacher used to say this meant...'
  5. We say the prayer, hopefully praying the prayer. If it is a new prayer then obviously they would learn it a line at a time, repeating it after me (and point 4 wouldn't make so much sense yet).
  6. We finish with 'Holy Mother Mary and St.Joseph' and they respond 'Pray for us'. Then 'And all the angels and saints of God' and they respond 'Pray for us'. Even this is something, like a liturgical norm, they need to be taught. It's an introduction to the Communion of Saints. Every now and then it could be explained, especially after a serious petition, 'everyone in Heaven is praying for you right now'.
Perhaps there will be a little more living of our prayers as a result. What would the world be like if we all lived a little more of 'as we forgive those who trespass against us'?
There are wider educational benefits to this approach. The class forms a unity in purpose (in life), see their inter-connectedness as a family of God, and express themselves and listen to everyone else in a respectful attitude. I'm sure there are so many other benefits.

This all might take some time, but if I had to move it to a slightly later part of the day it would be fine. I would just start with the Morning Offering by itself and do the rest later, once the register is in and the pressure is off.
Of course, my register might be one of the last to go into the office, but I know I've done something that puts the heart into what a Catholic school ought to be. I've started the day as I mean to continue. Even if it might often go downhill, we started well.

Friday 7 December 2012

From a daughter to brothers

Dear brothers, how blessed I am to have you in my life. I am blessed four times over (well, four and a half). I may be twice your size, in two of those instances, but then how would we play hide 'n' seek if you couldn't fit into all those wee hiding places? Your size multiplies the possibilities.

Then, dear special younger brother, would I have become the expressive reader I am if I hadn't read you all those stories at bed time, and other times, when mum and dad needed you to stop? Just stop doing things for a bit and give them a break?

Then, dearest older brother, I know we're not supposed to be getting on, us both being teenagers now, but it is good that we regularly talk about things we have in common. We're only a year apart in school and sing in the same choir. So, let's be honest, we do have a lot people we know in common. In fact, dare I say it, some friends in common.

And if I wasn't the only daughter, I wouldn't have that unique relationship with mum.

Now Dad, can I have a new reading light to replace the one they just ruined?

If truth be told, as it always should, I wouldn't make her work that hard. She's a lovely daughter, and now a teenager.

How time flies...

I used to like dolls 'n' stuff but I've got brothers.


Thursday 6 December 2012

What goes on up there?

We have been having our Christmas shows at school and one child wrote about it in his 'News'.

'Today we did our Christmas Show. All my friends and Alan were in it.'

'Oh dear!' I thought. Poor Alan!
Then I looked at the name on the front of the jotter...Alan.

A budding journalist? A self-forgetting 6 year-old?

Monday 26 November 2012

Staring at your tail

Yesterday I was shattered. My wife and I had a social life at the weekend and I'm obviously too old for such youthful, crazy-dude pursuits. Old friends are great to catch up with but costly if you gab past midnight. Since then, as my previous post outlined, I've needed to catch up on another Old Friend, Sleep.
In between, things can get to you that normally don't. In fact, an unfinished working day of nine hours up to that point was taking its toll and I was really fixated. Thankfully, the distraction of family life came to the rescue. Then I managed to do the additional hour. Sigh.

World, I'd like to formally apologise for anything you found, and are finding, objectionable in my behaviour. Six out of ten, must try harder. (Well, not work harder, maybe just smarter. Do I even deserve 7? Ok, I'm stroking the cat as I type and she's purring, so maybe I get seven.)

So I cheered myself up by checking the viewing stats for my blog so far. Wow! Someone is reading it right now. And they use the same unusual browser as me. And the same unusual operating system. Wow! And 'Don't track your own pageviews' wasn't selected.
I was, in fact, my own audience. I was viewing the stats that I was the stats.

We say it's a small world. It doesn't get much smaller than viewing your own thoughts.

Even my cat, lazy as she sometimes seems, doesn't look at herself except to clean herself, not even her tail. Moreover, she doesn't appear in the least bit stressed over anything. Anything at all.
Net traffic? Who cares?
I just feel the warmth inside.
So, when I feel myself getting all stressed out, I need to act more like a cat. I'm not sure exactly what that will look like, but it gave me paws to think: I should stop thinking and go chill out and meet the world outside my own thoughts. This blog helps me do it, regardless of stats.
A loyal reader
ps Thanks to sometime-viewers of this blog in France, Germany, the US (and maybe the UK?), Sweden and Indonesia. You're not me (hurrah for you!) and your views did cheer me up, as did this video:



Sunday 25 November 2012

The imminent vocation

I am probably like most people in that I occasionally have things happen that make me think 'is this the job/role I'm supposed to be doing in life?' For me that really gets asked as 'what is God calling me to do?' Better still, go ahead and ask 'what do You want me to do?'
As people come and go at work, sometimes people surprise you by indicating how they're likely to move on. I think I'm quite conservative that way. I'm a 'bloom where you're planted person'. In particular, I'm concerned not to think the grass is greener somewhere else- perhaps I've done that in the past and I realise there's an immaturity there. Besides, one thing I have learned is that your learn more about yourself in adversity, even if it's just hard work. Moreover, another benefit is the satisfaction after enduring what's dreaded in some way, or finding your own way of getting to the other side of it.

But anyway, I suddenly had a flash of inspiration on that front! The clouds lifted! My Vocation became clear: sleep.

God wants me to get a good night's sleep. 

It's obvious, and sometimes our lofty ideas of what to do next are best put aside in favour of the obvious, the imminent. This is especially true if everyone around me prefers me properly rested!
I'm not asleep, I'm refuelling my patience and sense of reason.
Our youngest two, the way we prefer them. (I'm kidding).
But is this imminent vocation also immanent? (Or have I butchered the English language enough for one post?)

im·ma·nent

[im-uh-nuhnt] adjective
1.
remaining within; indwelling; inherent.
2.
Philosophy . (of a mental act) taking place within the mind of the subject and having no effect outside of it. Compare transeunt.
3.
Theology . (of the Deity) indwelling the universe, time, etc. Compare transcendent

Contrary to the second definition, I believe it will have a very obvious effect on those around me. How much more pleasant I would be! How much more patient! But, more seriously, the vocation for all is the one that Therese of Lisieux discovered: love. So, I'll love myself as God would want me to, and I'll get the sleep.
But if I don't manage it, I'll just have to love a bit more in order to be pleasant and more patient.

November remembering

Mum and dad passed away two years ago now. It's hard to believe. And I've gone from thinking I had to go every day or every week, to just managing to squeeze in a visit to the cemetery before November is finished. But that's life with children. I do go at other times of the year as well, just not as much as I'd like to.
I did want to make sure we went in November though, and not just myself. So I took them all and we prayed the Rosary in the car on the way. Then we did a decade there. It was a bit waterlogged and there was the inevitable policing of children investigating neighbouring grave stones and flowers- but the lesson was imparted. We visit cemeteries to pray for loved ones. And we do this especially in November.
I was actually dog tired and didn't want to go but I knew it was the right thing to do, and it was.

It's a good lesson for me as well. When I was young a visit like this was just nostalgia. I couldn't relate too emotionally to the people we were visiting. It was just 'duty' and 'nice'. But my children knew and loved my grandparents, I hadn't really known mine well.
I hope I can impart something of the reality of our existence to them in a visit like this. But it's not a harsh reality. Perhaps a wake-up call, yes.
But it's a wake-up call to a beautiful morning that awaits us beyond the reality we see. We believe in the God who made all that is seen and unseen. The immeasurably beautiful unseen.

Mum and Dad,
pray for us,
and we for you. Amen

Wednesday 14 November 2012

The humour in sincerity

One of the ways in which our special son (the child and a half) entertains us is with his comments made in all sincerity.
My wife has frequent issues with any objections made to her cooking. She is quite right. After all, what right have we who are getting fed to quibble with the fare being offered?
Well, one night when serving after slaving in the kitchen over the dinner, a negative comment was passed. That was it. At the end of her tether, my wife made her thoughts crystal clear.
Wife: I'm fed up with people who have nothing better to do than say whatever they like about the food I've made. Well, if you don't like it you can go to a restaurant up the road and eat whatever you like!!
Special son: Mum, where is it? Can I go?
You don't believe I like it?
I'm wearing it for goodness sake!

Saturday 10 November 2012

Why worry?

I've set myself the task of reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church in a year.
But I have help from here. I'm sent a small portion to read every day. Sometimes two emails are sitting in my inbox and I realise I really have to do something right now. Otherwise it'll get out of hand. It is working though. Every time I read a section (5 mins or so) I find something I didn't know. And it's fascinating. Often, I'm not just learning, I'm inspired by a particular point.

This happened this evening. Something that gave me a shot of Hope. Section 208 of the Catechism reads:

Before the divine signs wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who realizes that he is a sinner before him: "I will not execute my fierce anger... for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst." The apostle John says likewise: "We shall... reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."

It's this last part that really struck me. My heart is often troubled by asking myself 'am I really doing the right thing here?' It is good to ask that question when one is confronted by a serious matter (the Church outlines what these are). But when one is bogged down by asking the question continually and it is wearing you down and robbing you of peace, then this quote really consoles:

"We shall... reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."

The key is sincerity. If I sincerely want to love and make manageable and serious commitments to do it, then forget worries. They're not from God.
He is my Friend, so I won't keep my distance from Him. Naturally, I'll talk to Him every day. This shows my Friend I believe He exists, I believe and hope in His Power - that Love Itself is Who I am conversing with. I want us to know each other.


"You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you."  John 15:14

Do we worry about doing the right thing? God knows what is in our hearts. Why worry if this is one friend who cannot misunderstand us and our intentions.

Friday 9 November 2012

Two ingredients for a Hope cake

I was full of joy tonight after an evening of recollection. The priest spoke of Holy Souls, it being the month of November, the traditional month for this for Catholics (and, come to think of it, everyone else if you consider Remembrance Day). This was also my mum's birthday, the second since her passing away, and I had been to Holy Mass in remembrance of her.

But the priest spoke not so much of the suffering of Holy Souls, but of the fact of their being saved. They are happy, to be envied in so much as they are certain of their eternal reward. This is a great ingredient for Hope for those of us left to ponder - to foster the hope of heaven.
Now let me see. Where are we?
What does this 'eternal' idea mean? It's so hard to get this notion into our finite heads. One approach I got lately came from reading someone else's blog, which referred to this video.
Put aside, nay, sweep aside the possible feeling of anonymity, and the vast coldness of space. If you get the chance to follow Fr.Spitzer on YouTube you realise there must be God. And as we experience pleasure (a real miracle) and love (a real miracle) - just to start with - these facts suddenly give us something to contemplate when thinking of eternity as a gift from an incredibly powerful and loving God.

God is. God is Good. God is Goodness Itself. Our happiness will go on, and on, and on, and on in Eternity.

The second ingredient in this Hope cake is sleep. By Providence I read a blog post I wouldn't have agreed with normally but I found sympathy with. Or rather, it gave me sympathy. I had a short sleep after work today and it suddenly made the world seem a better place. It hadn't changed, I had. I was joyful.

The priest recommended that we see the Year of Faith that has been proclaimed in the Catholic Church as a Year of Joy. We could measure its success by how much joy we have. So, adding two and two...

We should make sure we do what we can to get sufficient sleep in this crazy world that doesn't like silence and contemplation and genuine rest, so that we can live the way we were meant to live. It won't change the world by itself, but it will change how we see it. And we should add to this some time every day to contemplate our heavenly destiny.

Each day is made to love. We awaken to love.
And maybe then, full of Hope, we can set about changing the world. Starting tomorrow, after a good night's sleep.

Happy Birthday Mum!
Pray for me and I for you and all your friends, that we may meet merrily in Heaven. (St.Thomas More to his daughter).

Saturday 3 November 2012

What can I offer you?

There's a lovely hymn that goes:
What can I offer you Lord Our God,
How can I thank you for all that you've done?

With my parents now passed on, I often think of where they are. I also often think christians are increasingly finding it hard to practise what they believe in varying degrees. Both things have caused me a lot of angst in recent months. When my dad first passed away it felt as if there wasn't a clear purpose in this life. Why couldn't I just be with him? Why this life here? Why not just the next one?
But both suffering and heavenly reward were very prominent throughout the readings for the day on All Saints' Day Holy Mass. When I read them I was really bowled over by the imagery of what it means to be saved and to be at the Heavenly Banquet. On the other hand you have persecution mentioned in the First Reading and then again in the Communion Antiphon. The Gospel itself, the Beatitudes, balances efforts with promised rewards.
We know where we're going but there's a climb first

Do you want to live forever? Well, what about living forever and also in such bliss as you cannot possibly be dissatisfied? Forever. No more tears, only unending joy. I see my parents again. We'll never again be separated. What would I not give?

Well, once you think about it, you come to the conclusion that there must be something you can do in return. How embarrassing to turn up at celebration and you haven't brought a gift for the banquet. Or more accurately, someone actually gave you the present but you ate it on the way. You spend the party thinking 'I can't believe this is the best party I've ever been to and I've not brought a single thing to show appreciation for my invite.' And everyone else has.

All around us we have opportunities to offer something to God. The more bleakly the struggle of life is portrayed, the greater the persecution we sense, the more work there appears to be done, the more opportunities there are. What can I offer you Lord Our God?
God has given to me, and everyone else, the gift of a life beautifully wrapped and, inevitably, in the shape of a cross.

I picture myself at the threshold of the door, knocking and expecting a warm welcome from my Perfect Host. In my hands is an empty box, the wrapping dishevelled, my face greedily covered in chocolate.
Dear God, I hope this won't be me.
You're on your way to the party, what are you doing with that precious gift in your hands?

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Oh to be young

I was praying with my youngest two children tonight and before we did the Our Father I asked them who they wanted to pray for. There were a few suggestions (mainly favourite cousins and friends) and then I suggested teachers.
I was very impressed with their attempts to pronounce their teachers' names properly and then my youngest (turning 4 this week) announced with great excitement (he with a cute lisp, etc):

- (with his eyes closing temporarily in effort)
  The brue gwoup has a new teacher!

- Do you know her name?

- Miss Happy

- Miss Happy?

- Yeths, Miss Happy.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

And Nature is a playground

...and it's free. These kind of holidays are a real blessing. No shop for children to beg to be bought something that will make them really, really happy- for about 4 minutes. The seaside's a real leveller. We could all have stayed here all evening.
In fact it was the only decent evening we had on our holiday in Wales.
It was just like home! But we were together and relaxed and that's what made it a holiday. This is beautiful North Wales.

Necessity is a mother

...of artistic invention. I really didn't make this up. It's beautiful. And what do you do when the weather is wet and you have to entertain the young'uns? Take them to an outdoor shop and see if they fancy horse riding. Jockeys have to be light don't they?

Paved Paradise

In our climate a paved area is a Godsend. It's such a contrast to the abundance of grass we used to have around our last house. We have a long drive/football (soccer) pitch.
And here they've a paved paradise and put up a parking lot. What else does a young one do when the local scooter lockup rent is so high?

Saturday 29 September 2012

Wee Real Estate with Real Character(s)

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We live in a older house in a part of Scotland known for its damp climate. My younger boys' bedroom is facing north west, where the Atlantic rain come from, and gets little sunshine. So, like the room below, it tends to be a little damp (maybe folk in warmer climes can't relate to this already).
But now imagine this.

We had an unpleasant aroma from a bedroom. Locating the smell was like a Sherlock Holmes times seven. There was almost a form of rejoicing when, after weeks, we eventually found it. In the ultimate hiding place.

It used to be my special son's bedroom and he had managed to relieve himself in the light shade. (No typo: light shade). We have bunk beds, in case your wondering, so I imagine he was on the top bunk at the time.
On another occasion he opted for a corner. This was actually a virtue - literal obedience to 'now (for the tenth time) don't get out the room and go to sleep'.

Then, just as a recent sample, two nights ago I walked in in the dark, only to stand on some 'fresh' wee on the carpet. I'm sure others have found the same many times (I hope!). Both boys (4 and 5) had their pyjamas on and, quite innocently, denied all knowledge in the morning. It wasn't obedience this time (we have learned) but probably being caught short - of the door in this case.

But when people think my house is nice, I know they haven't been to this room. Don't worry, the carpet is going very soon- I do love my children.

I have to admit our house 'has character' - and characters.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

10, 9,8...We have lift-off! And let's hope we don't run out of fuel.
A blog to help me and others to focus on the positive in life. The fact is that for those with faith in God there is always hope. I have often compared this to optimism but really optimism is just the outward face of a hope that is within.

It is irrepressible. It not only is about God, as if we simply think of Him, but is from God, as a gift for the asking and can exist within us to the degree we allow God to live within us.

In our world that so frequently rejects God and even talk of God, we can see signs of hope constantly in the gifts of grace around us, in all that is truly Good.