advent2020

  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...

 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 ...

 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...

 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...

 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...

 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 ...

  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...

 I know I said I wouldn't ...... but this one is about Covid.   Except it isnt really :) The rise of Covid and the rise of the computer have in equal measure divided us and brought us together. Strange that, isnt it?  This year we have probably been more separated from each other than we have ever been in our lifetimes.  And we have all probably spent more time on gadgets than ever before. Gadgets which in many ways take us out of the real and present world and isolate us.  And yet..... this year we have zoomed and worked and had prayer meetings and done church and chatted through this very same technology which we all often bemoan.  Is it just that there is good and bad in everything?  I suppose thats probably true.  We are constantly choosing and assessing the tipping points - when is too much technology too much?  When is too little contact with others becoming crippling?  When is giving someone a hug lifesaving and when is it li...

  Today Im delighted to introduce our second guest blogger this year.  My lovely prophetic and wise friend Jenny. ( I am just loving how this time around the blog is inspiring a few of you to have a go at writing what God is speaking to you to share with us all. )   One of my favourite films as a child every Christmas on our big box telly was Oliver Twist. Ah, the memorable song and dance routines; a rags to riches story about an orphan boy who had a crackin’ angelic voice. In one scene his ‘friends’ in the orphanage dining room egg him on to ask for seconds. You all know the next line. Oliver walks slowly up towards the pompous, plump proprietor Mr Bumble. ‘Please Sir, I want…some…more?’ At which Harry Secombe as the booming Bumble shouts at the top of his voice, ‘WHAT?’ I am still scared every time I hear him scream. Today as I drove to buy yet more food to feed my family, my eyes were drawn to a lorry nearby. In big red letters were the following words. ...

 Distraction.  It comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes but its constantly hovering just on the periphery of our vision ready to come into full focus the minute we glance its way.  Last night I got distracted - I started a conversation with someone online which I knew was just going to lead down a rabbit hole and achieve nothing really.  But I do so like the sound of my own voice :)  And I enjoy the banter ...  so I stayed up later than I should have done and wasted time being distracted.  And lo and behold, today when I was trying to listen for what God was saying I found that everything had gone a bit foggy and my mind was wandering - couldnt hear much at all. I was also distracted just by being very busy today.  Its not often that Im full on busy all day at the moment - but I have been today and so in the busyness I told myself Id have time to listen for what to put in the blog later.  Suddenly its 10pm and I havent written anything and I...

 The phrase ' no filter' has been running about in my fevered brain today.  I have no idea why.  But Im assuming that as I sit down to write this something will emerge on the page. 😀 Usually when we hear the phrase ' no filter' it is in the negative context of someone who says exactly what they think without thought for the consequences.  People with no filter can be difficult to be around - they might lack the social skills which enable us all to rub along together without causing too much offence.  But as I was thinking about the phrase today I had the distinct impression that God was wanting to say that in Him, having no filter is a good thing.   I Googled the word ' filter'.   As well as the definitions you would expect  ( something to strain out impurities) there was this one   a device or material for suppressing or minimizing waves or oscillations of certain frequencies (as of electricity, light, or sound) so a filter an be ...

 Yesterday morning I found myself awake at a ridiculously early hour and skipping through the TV channels in an attempt to find something boring enough to watch to send me back to sleep.  I landed on a programme called ' The real Jesus of Nazareth' on Smithsonian channel.  It was a documentary in which Robert Powell explored some of the archaeology and history surrounding the life of Jesus. 40 years ago I was 14.  I was not a Christian. But I remember the sensation that Robert Powell's portrayal of Jesus on the TV series ' Jesus of Nazareth' caused.  Nobody in my family went to church or showed much interest in religion.  But we all watched the TV programme and I distinctly remember that the last episode - crucifixion and resurrection - was shown on a day that I happened to be visiting my Granny.      ( this was in the days when there were only four channels on the telly and no watch back, recordings, catch up or streaming )  I dont ever...

 Very occasionally in life someone asks you to pray for something and God takes hold of you and gives you something special in prayer.  I think people with the gift of intercession get this quite often, but for me, who doesn't have that gift, its a rare but notable occurrence. Several years ago one of my very best friends in the whole world started to tell me about the difficulties his teenage son was having at school and with life in general.  This is a family of well educated professional parents who have a churchgoing background and live a very normal middle class life in the leafy suburbs.  Their son, Matthew, found school quite a tricky place to fit in and his parents were a bit concerned that he wasnt happy and didnt seem to have much direction or passion in his life.   We aren't in touch all the time, but over the following year or so the news started to get more concerning. Behaviour was getting a bit difficult ( but hey, he was a teenage lad ) the ...

 This week I did something I don't do very often.  I wrote a letter of complaint. Recipient of said missive - the local bus company Reason - the bus keeps coming early. The other thing I did which I don't do very often is I wrote this blog at 8am .  Normally you don't get much sense out of me before 11am and three cups of coffee 😁 But today the early bus happened again.  And as I sat in the car with the boys at the bus stop ( bus leaves from 2 miles down the road from our house) looking at my watch I heard the whisper of God saying ' and the bus came early' ....... and I knew I had to come home and write this straight away. Advent is a time of waiting.  Ive written before in these blogs about how hard it is to wait, how the people of God waited centuries for their Messiah etc etc.  But recently I've realised that its also incredibly difficult if things you are waiting for arrive too early.   Think about the premature babies being delivered today ...

 As  lover of the amazing English language few things annoy me more than the ridiculous and unnecessary invention of new terms for things which don't require them.   Since when was ' flexology' a word??  Seriously?  😁  The amount of stupid words advertisers foist on us every week is ..... well...... grrrrrr.  As you can tell its a pet peeve of mine. Over this past year a few annoying phrases have crept into common parlance.  ' New normal' is one of them.   I dont find it as irritating as some of the others, but its overuse can be a bit grating.  For some reason this week Ive been thinking about the phrase ' new normal' and wondering what it takes for something to shift in society such that one common experience is replaced with another. Have you noticed that these days television advertising hardly ever features waif-like super skinny white teenage models?  Ten or twenty years ago fashion was obsessed with models being as...