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Thankful

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  Count your blessings - a phrase that came to me as I sat down to write this Christmas Eve blog.  I knew it was from a song so I googled it and got this.   When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Refrain: Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God has done! Count your blessings, name them one by one, *Count your many blessings, see what God has done. [*And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.] Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly, And you will keep singing as the days go by. When you look at others with their lands and gold, Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold; Count your many blessings—*money cannot buy [*wealth can never buy] Your reward in heaven, n...
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Jesus comes

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 I didn't have much to say today - given that yesterday I  did precisely nothing and spent nearly all day in bed watching telly . So I've been reading back over some previous years blog posts in an attempt to find some inspiration.  Back in 2012 I wrote for the first time about my experience with depression - and that particular blog provoked a huge reaction amongst my friends, many of whom stepped out of the shadows to share their own experience for the first time.  Nine years later ( I started taking the pills in 2011) I'm still on a daily dose of anti-depressants.  As far as I'm concerned I'll probably be on them for the rest of my life. They have definitely made a huge difference to me and to my family.  I most certainly would not have survived lockdown without them. This year everyone has come under tremendous pressure one way or another.  We have either been forced to stay at home with kids and partners and we have gone stir crazy just having to ...
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Humble fruit

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 Last night I watched a programme on telly about Marcus Rashford and his campaign to get the government to provide free meals to poor children during the summer ( and then the Christmas) holidays.  A young man of 22 managed to rally all the supermarkets, his millions of followers on social media and the press to persuade the government to change their plans.  Good for him.  Or so you would have thought. But sadly one of the things that was also highlighted was the amount of abuse Marcus has got since he went public with his campaign.  Apparently about a third of the posts on his social media pages are negative. And it made me wonder what it is about human nature which loves to have a go at people who are successful or even just trying to do their best.    Ive recently seen a few Facebooks posts by doctors and nurses saying how much things have changed over the past couple of months.  In April and May people were out on their doorsteps clapping. Th...
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Like mother like son ?

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 I had hoped to have a story to tell you today about how I stepped out in faith and gave a word of knowledge to a complete stranger and then led them to the Lord.  But......   😁 After the last lockdown was eased ( who knows when that was??) I took the boys to McDonalds as they were suffering from withdrawal.  As we entered we were greeted by a young chap who was impeccably dressed and rather effeminate who showed us which table to sit at and asked if we needed help.  We didn't, and proceeded to order at the touch screen but the lady behind us was quite elderly and a bit confused by everything and I watched this young man take her to the screen and spend a good long time helping her and chatting to her and generally being a bit of a star.   As we were leaving he was busy being lovely to a different customer so I went up to the manager and told him that his greeter person was doing a brilliant job, going above and beyond.  Manager looked surpr...
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Discovery

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 Isn't it weird how sometimes you hold a few pieces of a puzzle in your hand but you don't see the picture for a while?  Today various pieces of something came together and made me smile.   Let me tell you the story....... A couple of years ago ( maybe more ) I was asked to speak at a church service and, for some reason which now escapes me, I decided I wanted a visual representation of the story of the prodigal son.  I went online to search for something suitable and I found this image It suited the talk I was giving perfectly and I thought it was rather a beautiful and profound image, but I didnt look into it any further.  I just borrowed it to illustrate a point.  Some time later I was looking for a present for a friend and , wandering through a bookshop, my eye landed on 'The boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse' by Charlie Maksey.  I didnt read it, I merely browsed the pages - but there was something about it which drew me to buy it. This is ve...
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Dreamers

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 For the past many years I have been a member of a Poetry Forum which consists of amateur writers from all over the world who post their poems for others to read and comment on.  Through posting my own scribblings there I have come to know a few fellow poets, and a few other christians.  A recent arrival to the Forum is Jonathan Budd,  a minister with a real gift with words who, yesterday, posted this sonnet.  Ive asked if I can share it here because I thought it was wonderful The Dream As tonight I slept there came to me A message from a voice within a dream. Both clear and unexpected, I could see No way I'd misinterpreted its theme. The voice like light refracting through a bell Oblique, and yet direct in the same sound Rang true. It proved as lie things I knew well And guided me to see my future bound. There was no cheap betrayal of our vow No wayward time in someone else’s bed My thoughts of separation end here, now That human and divine are inly wed. It is ...
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Shmita.

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  2021 in the Jewish calendar is a Shmita year - a sabbath year.  See  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmita Really interestingly, in the sabbath year no food is to be produced by agriculture as the land is allowed to lie fallow. Instead food must be stored from the previous year, or imported .  That which does grow on the uncultivated land is to be free for the poor to use.   Ominously God does say that if the people don't keep the sabbatical year then He will give them over to their enemies so that the land can lie fallow in the 7th year   (Leviticus 26:33-35)   Does anyone else see a possible parallel with what is happening in these days?  Does it feel as though in many ways God has forced us to take a break, put things on hold, stop getting and spending? Our food is being collected into foodbanks in unprecedented quantities in a year when so many of us have been forced to take furlough and ' rest'.  We might look on 2020 a...
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