Time flying by

I can hardly believe that we re only 2 weeks away from the end of February,  this year is moving far too fast. The one thing that I welcome coming quickly is a weeks break from work although, with the floods in the south on England it is a bit unclear what we are going to do. We had planned to go to the west country but at the moment this is looking a bit doubtful. Still you never know.
If one good thing comes out of these floods it may be that it draws communities together again and out of the me first culture,  as people find that they need their neighbours and their neighbours need them.

Accidents Happen

Today I got to the office to find a number of work colleagues stood over anothe friend who was lying on the deck,  his bike having slipped on an icy corner and he fell off breaking his femur in the process. He was inly yards away from the end of 10 k journey.
Once I knew he was ok and the ambulance had taken him off to hospital I began to think about the moral in this story such as is and it basically came down to you can never be sure what trials life has in for you when you least expect it.

Another Wednesday!

Hump da,y but a good day today. Even though the weather here is changeable to say the very least this could not dampen the feeling that today was a really good day.
It just so happens that Wednesday is also a day when there is a lunchtime service at the church in the centre of our town which I have been attending (work permitting) over the past couple  of years. Every once in a while the minister presiding comes up with a really good sermon and today's was about family and for once had the congregation laughing in the aisles with some of the comments. It made me think quite a lot - yes my family can by trying at times and my extended family and friends too - but I would not be without them because they make me smile so much with some of the things they do.
It also made me think about the family that have passed and even though it is sad at times I can still smile at the memories of the good times we had as a family.
Thank you Lord for the pocketful of sunshine memories that brightened the rainy skies!

Where does your faith come from?

I suppose mine came originally from going to church and sunday school from a very young age at the request of my parents. Typically I rebelled against this in my late teens - being sure of myself and not wanting anything to do with something as staid.
During the intervening years certain aspects of the past came to the fore and my views on organised religion hardened as I could perceive more of the hurt that was done in the name of religion than the good that was being done.
I don't think I ever lost a feeling of spirituality, I just think I channeled it through other things like my love of the moors and mountains of this country and the feeling of oneness and unity that I got from being out there. There was always something there.
This is part of what allowed me to see God in this, that and a hymn, "How Great Thou Art", which speaks movingly of the mountains and forests and how God is in them all. This allowed me to believe again and to see God in them and to feel my faith again.
This is the version I heard that allowed my to feel this again, a wonderful hymn with a true sense of appeal to those of  us who love the great outdoors and all it means to us

Its the weekend!

Well we have been really busy so far doing loads of different things around the house. For once I find myself largely not stressed by this. I even found that I could be sympathetic to the sky engineer who came to install Sky+ only to get network errors.  He seemed upsrt about it whereas I was more relaxed about it which led him to comment that he wished more people were as understanding.

Calming and Spiritual Music

Wednesday at last , though time seems to have flown by this week. However I do feel quite upbeat this week so maybe that is the reason.

It was a nice calm church service at lunchtime and I was thinking about about what someone had said in a podcast where they described the homely and welcoming smell of a church. Something about the carpets or the books that generally made it feel at peace which is something I do get from being in church and a oneness with everything.

Because the podcast was on the Scotland Outdoors series I started looking for some Gaelic music to match my mood. I do like to hear Gaelic singing and as the Gaelic Psalm singers of Lewis were included I started listening to them. To my eternal sadness I only understand a few words of Gaelic but here is a link to a program about it.

http://youtu.be/w62TN2iCP1g

I also liked the song "An Innis Aigh" recorded on the Chieftains album - here is a link to the Youtube version

An Innis Aigh

And if you really get into it you can listen to the "Waulking Songs" sung by the people of Harris when they were "Waulking" the cloth which are really something that you can just listen to again and again

Try these

Waulking Songs

Wednesday calm

After a break of a number of months mainly due to work commitments I managed to make it to the Wednesday Eucharist at the parish church in town.
And I have to say I had forgotten what a moment of calm it can be during a busy week / life. It is nice to be able to take about an hout just to contemplate on a few things that have very little in common with the work I do.
This may sound selfish in some ways but having felt so down on and off for so long I will take any chance of a lift in my spirits.