Living It

 Hello to 2026. A new year with new opportunities - we can leave the last one behind. Take a moment though to think what parts of the year that has past do you want to to hold onto in a positive way? Who are the people you want to nurture? I have spent hours in those years being with people. Who are the people that matter? Who brings warmth to your heart when you think of them? Where were the smiles? Where were the tender moments? If there were raw moments, do they need tended to? In this coming year I will have been a Christian for 40 years.... Where has the time gone? If I said that becoming a Christian made my life joy and delight - I would be lying through my teeth. Last year was a dark one for me. I have been raw and impassioned. I have been someone that most would say " if that is a Christian....!" I can even hear the words "call yourself a Christian!" a phrase often expelled from my mother's voice  in an argument. I have spent most if not all of these nea...

Where it Started -  Living It Everyone has their own experiences, develops their own worldview and values. Some things we learn from others thinking and some we develop as we read, learn, experience and live in this world God created. This is a blog about what I have learned and how I am practically living out my faith in my community. The banner of my blog is an attempt to say where my foundation and ethos and values lie. I am a Christian. I think I started this blog over 17 years ago now (I haven't checked). This blog is about the different parts of me, my learning and development and even how my beliefs and values may have changed as life has happened. The joys, the challenges, the disappointments and the victories. If that is the purpose of this blog - it would be a really sad state of affairs if years later, nothing had changed. It would be really sad if I was stubbornly stomping my feet and digging in refusing to consider new scientific research, acknowledging mistakes and re...

 Today is one of those stake in the ground days of any Parents' life. An early rise to take your child to the station for them to spread their wings. Everyone in the car have their own unspoken emotion. Everyone is holding everything in - trying not to upset the other. A melting pot of emotion. The day he arrived he caused a flurry. A quick labour, so much so that when I made a call to go to hospital the voice at the end of the phone said "can you wait, we are a bit busy right now - oh no it sounds like you can't." 2 hours 10 minutes. Then his first moments there was no cry. They took him out the room and those moments were seemed an age. Where has he gone? Why was there no cry? Then from outside a cry. The whole of my being showed the relief. He has made up for his silent entry into the world ever since! The whirlwind of my son. So back to today, So proud of the obstacles he has overcome in his life already. When my lip pursed hugging him farewell at the station, I c...

   In recent days I have been mulling over the notion of legacy. How do you want to be remembered? It is a very interesting subject to me. Some people approach the notion of their legacy in very practical, pragmatic terms. Should everyone get an equal share.... should some inherit more?  Or even this is for my ego as oppose to a selfless act. Or is it still more about how people remember you as a person rather than what you want to leave to the world? In other words do you want to elevate your own importance or simply be you? These questions are things you have to consider when you think about legacy. Charities are quick to say you can talk to us about leaving us something in your legacy... Others might decide I want to leave or create a legacy that people remember me by. Both of these situations are ME centred. Other people leave a legacy that are OTHERS centred. My dear father in law, now promoted to Glory, was a formidable man,. A strategic business man, with a huge he...

 Have you ever heard the expression "When life throws you lemons - make Lemonade." Well that kind of sums up my life right now. Without going into extreme detail in a blog. There are times when you hit a few bumps in the road or a few curve balls that you just never expected. Well that is kind of where I am at in more ways than one right now. The important thing to remember in these situations is that everyone can react differently.  You can attend a concert with a friend and your friend will interpret and experience the events in a different way, This is not to say that either experience is wrong. Each experience is validated when scrutinised by the self, In the last few days I have had a curve ball.  I am in the process of navigating this and at the time of writing I am not sure how things will unfold. There is one thing I am certain of, This is a bump in the road but roads get fixed. I have had many obstacles come across my pathway in my life. I find it extremely inter...

 Joy seems to have drained from me. This blog has always been about honestly living it. It has  been one which seems to have had one challenge after another. Slowly I am coming back. I have quite often looked at this page and I had no idea where to begin. Tonight things began to flow again. This has not happened for a long time. Sometimes you need someone to slightly force your hand to get you to shift and move. Asking for help has never really been my forte. Trusting someone with the deep stuff is hard.  As a sole trader, I tend to try to keep going. Until the wheels fall off. Deep survival mode. “ Do less” sounds easy. In fact it sounds blissful. The practicalities of that are not so easy.  After a hellish experience, it  was exciting to start a new course. As soon as I  stepped in the room and fear gripped me.  The spasms in my chest that made me hurt for weeks, I thought what on earth am I doing. The start of the course did not go as expected and q...