Onward...

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last,                                  
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

O. W. Holmes

Water

Continuing with New Year Resolutions,  I have finally arranged a monthly donation to http://www.wateraid.org/uk/

I've been meaning to donate to WaterAid for a long time, as I feel that this charity can help many people in many parts of the world, and because water is such an essential of life. 

I know that, most of the time, I take the safe water in my taps very much for granted.  And, although I moan a lot about the amount of rain we get here in Scotland, I think it is preferable to a total lack of rainfall, which often means failed crops, leading to hunger.

I'm donating £2 a month to WaterAid - a bargain I think!!  Anyone care to join me?

Weathering the Storm

Here in Scotland, we have recently had more storms than we have experienced in the past. The storm of last Tuesday (January 3rd) was so strong that it moved our very heavy shed off it's base!

Today I was tidying up in the garden, and around the greenhouse in particular. Having lost a greenhouse to a fairly wild storm on 31 May, my daughter and I had taken the precaution of removing the panes and stored them in the (now leaning!) shed. However, there were a couple of panes we could not remove - one in the roof skylight, and one just above the door.

Tuesday's storm removed the skylight one for us, which we have rescued and brought inside. However, the one above the door is still in place: this pane is, by far, the smallest pane of them all.

What struck me was that we don't have to be big and strong to weather storms. All we really need is to be securely anchored - and sometimes that happens best when we are very small - because we are not relying on our own strength but are, instead, standing on the Rock.

The Personal Touch

One of my new year resolutions is to begin blogging again, so here goes.........

Two other resolutions are to make more phone calls and write more letters. One reason I made these resolutions is because this new year was very different to those I remember, because of the mobile phone and the computer.

At new year I would normally expected to speak to a number of folk by phone, or welcome them to my home or visit them in their's. This new years day I only spoke to four people, and two of them live with me! The third person I spoke to was my elder daughter who was visiting us for new years day dinner, and the fourth person was her Carer who collected her to take her home (but who did not even come into the house). We received no phone calls. Our first foot was our next door neighbour on the morning of 2 January.

Don't get me wrong - we did hear from folk - and I was very happy to hear from each and every one, and their contact and best wishes are valued more than they know. However, all these messages were via text or Facebook. I miss hearing people's voices. I miss seeing their faces.

I think that both computers and mobile phones are brilliant tools which are invaluable in many areas of life and work. However, have they also taken over areas where a telephone call, letter or visit are more appropriate? Are we in danger of losing the personal touch?

Is there anyone out there?

So very long since I last posted anything that I will be very surprised if anyone is actually still reading this Blog!

This coming weekend I will be meeting up with a number of school friends. I am going to be staying with one of my closest friends, whom I've known since we were at Infants School, but we haven't actually seen each other for a long time. So I'm wondering if we will all recognise each other! Those who have attended Reunions before tell me that, after the first few moments, everyone is totally recognisable and the years simply melt away.

I am very much looking forward to meeting up with everyone and finding out about their life journeys. If folk are happy for me to do so, I will post some photos in a future post.

Goodbye!

As I will not be blogging for the foreseeable future, I just wanted to say goodbye and thanks for your company!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS !!

WHEREVER YOU ARE, AND WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING FOR CHRISTMAS, I WISH YOU A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND PEACE, HEALTH AND HAPPINESS IN 2009.

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given......"

Isaiah 9:6