Fathers Day

Father of all,
we give you thanks and praise,
that when we were still far off
you met us in your Son and brought us home.

Early in the morning

Monday the 14th and an early walk to meet the sun.

Holy Holy Holy, Lord God almighty, early in the morning our song shall rise to thee….

All thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea.

Saltburn by the Sea.

Note to morning office: May I rise to the newness of each day.

3rd South Bank St Peters

Bluebird 

Back in 1966 a young boy was part of a scout group near Middlesbrough; they were due to put on (what I believe) was their first and only Gang Show. Much practising went into the production and help was drafted in from the area. I still have the programme somewhere and must find it out. The rendition above of Bluebird has yours truly somewhere in there; nobody seemed to worry too much about staying in tune.

Now I have found the programme, I can see it was May 1966 and a celebration of their 40 years. Someone had the foresight to set up - what was - even then an old spool tape recorder. Being a bit of a techno... and having the original tape in our family, I did a conversion to modern cassette tape. I now find myself years later converting it all to Mp3.

 

Back in 1930, my fathers scout master was Leo Atkinson and mine in 1966 was

Derek Maughn (Skip). Happy days.

Note to evening office: Taps -

Day is done, gone the sun,

from the hills, from the lake from the sky.

All is well, safely rest,

God is nigh.

A Change Reaction

 

Change comes as a reaction to a situation, others, emotion, nature or an internal thought.

Most of the time we talk about our reaction to change but the opposite is true; change comes from reaction.

I sometimes think, that putting it this way round, helps me deal better with change.

Permanence

There is a certain quiet that envelopes us when we stand and become aware of the things that don’t move. I am thinking now of the mountains, trees, dry-stone walls, valleys and rivers.

It instils a sense of security and knowledge that we journey only a short distance.

We look for stability in our lives and remembrance is an important process: anchoring to places, scenery, structure – things that do not move. I recognise the feeling while I stand and gaze; and begin to see what it is I am looking at.

Mid-day office: 

Let nothing disturb thee, nothing affright thee;
all things are passing, God never changeth!
Patient endurance attaineth to all things;
who God possesseth in nothing is wanting;
alone God sufficeth.

 

Keeping your head down

Most times I avoid difficult situations, confrontations; especially in the people/ emotional areas. It is more often a case of – wait till the dust settles, keep your head down or – wait till someone else does something, then it will sort itself out.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, its just the getting there (in the darkness) that is the struggle. But perhaps if I learn through my struggles, then there won’t be so many tunnels? Just gritting your teeth to get through the darkness is a good way of coping but in the long run; looking at the process may be better.

 

                         

378-yard tunnel on the Kendal canal [Hincaster tunnel].

Tree of knowledge.

Last week saw me over at Kendal with some friends. The weather was fantastic and I managed a couple of walks. We stayed at a converted barn (very grand) with a disused canal at the bottom of the field. The canal is mostly dried up now so the greenery is really taking over; cowslips and bluebells amongst the bright new green.

Our life is full of questions, it is difficult to start a conversation without a question: how are you? What have you been doing recently? Did you know? Have you heard? Our need to satisfy our questions are now met by the Internet; any question may be asked and an answer will be given. We can ask questions that we would never ask in company of others, not wishing to appear stupid. We can check information and impress our knowledge to those around us. Conversations are vehicles of information exchange and what we know about the world, its issues and people becomes extremely important.

Conversations with God are, in the main somewhat different; based on requests rather than questions.  I guess it may have something to do with the fact we don’t expect an answer. We make requests and wait for a result; this is ok of course, we are God’s children.

The Moody Blues – “I’m looking for someone to change my life”.

“Its the more the way you really mean it when you tell me what will be.”

Note to morning office: Try to ask God three questions today; and expect answers.