Take a walk in the woods with me...

My husbands parents have come over to visit and see our new baby.

We took a walk in the woods last weekend and I couldn't resist sharing a few pics!

Having a Mary heart and a Martha Mind

Having a Mary Heart and a Martha Mind

Lord of all pots and pans and things, since I’ve no time to be A saint by doing lovely things, or watching late with Thee,

Or dreaming in the dawn-light, or storming Heaven’s gates,

Make me a saint by getting meals and washing up the plates.

Although I must have Martha’s hands,

I have a Mary mind,

And when I black the boots and shoes,

Thy sandals, Lord, I find.

I think of how they trod the earth, what time I scrub the floor:

Accept this meditation, Lord, I haven’t time for more.

Warm all the kitchen with Thy love, and light it with Thy peace;

Forgive me all my worrying, and make my grumbling cease.

Thou who didst love to give men food, in room or by the sea,

Accept this service that I do -— I do it unto Thee.—

Cecily Rosemary Hallack (1898-1938)

Building Bridges

But the world sees nothing of that inward, heartfelt devotion which makes all these actions pleasant and easy.

Watch a bee hovering over the mountain thyme;—the juices it gathers are bitter, but the bee turns them all to honey,—and so tells the worldling, that though the devout soul finds bitter herbs along its path of devotion, they are all turned to sweetness and pleasantness as it treads;

(An excerpt taken from "A Devout Life" St. Francis de Sales.)

The prayers, yearnings, stinging tears, grace filled joys, overflowing cups, trembling frailty, aching anxieties, gentle awakenings and precious moments of motherhood.


Can be captured well within the excerpt above.


Where there is "bitterness" in the world a mother trys to turn it into "sweetness" for her child.


Motherhood is all about turning, moulding, shaping and reconstructing the internal debris of ourselves into something other than ourselves.

Something more than ourselves.

Like a small candle which trembles in the air. May I be brought to life by the breath of God.

Like sunlight on the ripples of water. Shimmering in the beauty and love of God's reflection. May I shine this light into the lives of those I love. Those I know. And those I have yet to meet along the way home.


As we walk the road to calvery, one step, one moment, one choice, one thought, one prayer at a time.

We often find


An inward journey reflects and rebounds upon each step we take.

I am borrowing an idea from the excellent http://mulledvine.blogspot.com/

This is an interesting personality test based upon the Myers Briggs original.

The results seem to be pretty spot on for most people. Although I think that it is fair to say in critisism of tests like these they tend to be somewhat generalised.

I turned out to be an INFJ ( click on the link here:-http://typelogic.com/infj.html for more info on this type)

To find out your own personality type according to this test click on the link below :0)

http://www.kisa.ca/personality/

I think this just proves that despite the many differences bettween people we must look above and beyond the defence mechanisms, the habits, the conditioned responses and opinions of others and try to see the child in everyone. The part inside each one of us, that is closest to God.

ALL I ASK

I do not ask that I may steer
My peaceful bark by peaceful shores alone,
Nor that I linger, harbor-bound,
And sail no stormy seas unknown;
I only ask this boon of Thee:
Be ever in the ship with me.

I do not ask that I may dwell
From din of battle far removed,
Nor ever feel temptation's force,
Nor ever know mine armor proved;
I only ask, through Life's long fight,
Grant me the power of Thy might.

I do not ask, that I may walk
Only on smoothly trodden grass,
Nor ever climb the mountain's height
And trembling, through its dangers pass;
I only ask, on rocks or sand,
The sure upholding of Thy hand.

I dare not pray for any gift
Upon my pilgrim path to Heaven;
I only ask one thing of Thee:
Give Thou Thyself and all is given.
I am not strong not brave nor wise;
Be Thou with me - it shall suffice.

-Annie Johnson Flint

(borrowed from the wonderful and inspirational http://holyexperience.blogspot.com/

QUOTATIONS

LIFE
"People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers,at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering."
sT Augustine ~

*

PEACE
"Peace we achieve When we do not expect anything from the world, but only give, give, and give Unconditionally what we have and what we are."
sRI cHINMOY ~

*

HOPE
"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."
- Martin lUTHER kING jUNIOR ~~

*

LOVE
“Your task is not to seek for love,but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
rUMI ~

*

POSSIBILITY
"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
sT. fRANCIS OF aSSISI ~

*

BELIEF
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."

C. S lEWIS~

*

A Way through the Darkness

There is a Power whose care
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast--
The desert and illimitable air--
Lone wandering, but not lost.

---------------------------------------------

He who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.

William Cullen Bryant

Broken shadows of day's best forgotten.

My husband was born in communist Albania 27 years ago.

He remembers queuing with his father at 4 o' clock in the morning for meat, frozen in strorage months before and other essential goods of various kinds. Most mornings he had to queue for something.

People were muted and numbed by the constant background noise of fear. The sounds of which imprisioned people from the inside, with the barb wire of whispers and threats. Much as they were imprisoned on the outside by walls and weapons.

Roads were empty and silent at night.

Even the slate coloured sky seemed to be closing in at times.

Once communisim collapsed the country went into chaos. The economy disolved. The weapons of oppression were handed out to children and men, young and old. Gunshot punctuated the days and nights, turning the sky grey whatever the hour. The people were still not free.

My husband's family lived in the North, near the Kosovan border. Kosovo was largley populated by ethnic Albanians and they had some cousins who lived there so they decided to move away from the violence.

For a sweet breath of month's life seemed good.

Yet their peace did not last.

Soon war would fragment and scatter a familliar pattern of sorrow and loss.

The Kosovan war with Serbia devastated the land and the people who had lived on it.

My husband saw many atrocities as a child.

Old men standing over the bodies of their only children. Shot. In front of them.

Houses burned down with families trapped inside, the sound of screaming rendered almost inaudible by the horror.

Children left without parents or home. Lost, abandoned, laying on dirt.

My husband came to Britain as a refugee not long after.

He came alone. Children were granted asylum quickly in those days.

His parents now live in Albania once more, and their life, though poor is thankfully free from violence and bloodshed.

Many people my husband knew were killed, and there is much he dosen't talk about. Blank spaces, best filled with the future rather than the past.

War, involves children. It is an inescapable fact.

I look at my little girls, Laying peacefully in their beds, and my heart breaks for those children whose childhood's have been brutally torn from them. The children who's parents have been killed and who have no loving arms to console them in the darkness. The children who have been recruited to kill. To become soldiers in a war they are the victims, not the perpetraters of.

I look into the clear blue pools of light that are my 1 year old's eyes. And I pray that know child's eyes should see the red stain of blood. Just the sunlight and the green grass and the water on their toes.

A Prayer for Peace

I'm joining Ginny and Marie

@ http://viewfromthepews.blogspot.com/

In their prayer for peace.

A few little pictures

The Little Flower

She had a childlike faith. Her beautiful and simple love for God has always inspired me.

She is known as "The little Flower" is France, her country of birth. Her devoted and contemplative life as a Carmilte nun has inspired many. To learn more about her life click on the links here http://www.littleflower.org/learn/littleflower.asp

Here are a few wonderful words from Saint Therese of Lisieux.

"I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul."

"Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing."

"Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our father's love — difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul's miseries, her burdens, her needs — everything, because through them, she learns humility, realizes her weakness — Everything is a grace because everything is God's gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events — to the heart that loves, all is well."

"Sometimes, when I read spiritual treatises, in which perfection is shown with a thousand obstacles in the way and a host of illusions round about it, my poor little mind soon grows weary, I close the learned book, which leaves my head splitting and my heart parched, and I take the Holy Scriptures. Then all seems luminous, a single word opens up infinite horizons to my soul, perfection seems easy; I see that it is enough to realize one's nothingness, and give oneself wholly, like a child, into the arms of the good God. Leaving to great souls, great minds, the fine books I cannot understand, I rejoice to be little because 'only children, and those who are like them, will be admitted to the heavenly banquet'."

"For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy; in a word, something noble, supernatural, which enlarges my soul and unites it to God.... I have not the courage to look through books for beautiful prayers.... I do as a child who has not learned to read, I just tell our Lord all that I want and he understands."

"Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love."

Prayer of a Child

http://www.spiritualart.com/Fine_Art/PrayerOfaChildSM.jpg

Raised in His Love

"Leaving your baby to cry alone between 4 hour feeding slots, encourages a sense of security to develop by means of a routine.

By relating to and responding to your baby's individual needs you will nurture, her confidence and build a flexible routine that suits both the child and it's parents.

Anthropological study's have revealed that babywearing and co-sleeping is what the human baby expects. To ignore this fact could compromise your child's emotional development."

There are many manuals, many books and much information on the subject of raising children. There are facts, figures and statistics.

There are correlations and contradictions.

But there always seems to be something missing.

Why are we still searching for the best way to raise our children?

It can be so easy to become numb to an overload of information. Besides having four little ones means that there is little time for to much reading anyways.

Probably that is a good thing.

During the times of dischord and anxiety it is all I can do to cling to God in the way that a child clings to a parent. When I am weak he is strong indeed.

I read His word for insight so that I may understand this calling of mine, to be a mummy to four little souls belonging to Him and brought into my life by Him, with more clarity and purpose.

In replacement for my life... the hours and moments of my days, sometimes so fragile, frail and falible there is the sweetest kind of grace. It touches the edges of the quivering morning light, that aches within and embraces all the tears that sting tierd eyes. .

I try to learn from He who is Father to us all.

I pray.

I make so many mistakes. I hold my hands up so many times in error. How can I be responsible for such precious little lives?

But the truth is that these little lives were God's before they were mine.

The way I raise them shouldn't come from books or even my own perspective.

There is a simplicity behind the complexity of ideas, theories and words I think.

"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."-JAMES 3:17 (niv)

"Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray."~ Proverbs 22:6

"And, parents, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."~ Ephesians 6:4

"People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."~ Luke 18:15-17

My children teach me to see God's majesty through their wonder filled eyes. A small lense can relflect great things you know.

The miracles of the every day. The sacred moments. The tiny details filled with grace.

Step by step we learn to walk together. We bring eachother toward Him.

A Paragraph in the Story

I hold my baby close as she falls asleep. The house has only just fallen into hush. Like leaves shaken from the trees bough only to float like silent feathers to the mute ground below.

Downstairs still slightly trembles from the noise and chaos of only a few minutes before. My toddler is still talking to her Teddy bears in the next bedroom. Soon her little conversation will begin to mumble into an opened mouthed slumber.

My husband is playing his acoustic guitar downstairs....mmm a new song I think?

My ten year old is knitting the last rows of a scarf for her nearly four year old sister in thick, soft pink heather stained wool, cross legged in concentration on the pine toybox (one of many:0).

Only 30 minutes ago the house seemed to be afloat on unsteady waters. Bobbing up and down with the tides of plates clattering, babies grumbling, stairs thudding with footsteps climbing, voices singing, a pair of wobbly legs dancing .

The whirlwind gathering speed underfoot, skidding up the particles of dust by the window. Illuminated by the gentle glow of another day done.

...Oh yes, did I forget to mention, five little baby rabbits attempting to evade their bedtime also! Scurrying around in the kitchen, hiding in all the corners, trails of brittle hay scattered over carpet and tiles!

An over-tierd toddler, redcheecked and clinging to my jeans clambouring, clamouring, wilting in the embers of a busy afternoon.

Carried up to her cot in the safe cradle of her Daddy's arms. Strong and gentle.

The light outside is ebbing away.

Tommorrow morning will again be gilded in autumn's golden shoon.

For Autumn is a season of contrasts. A season of colours.

A season of days (or parts of days) awash with rain while the other days recline and bathe in subdued, dewy sunlight.

Last traces of Summer's watercolour collide into the thick oils of falling leaves, curled into dried orange peels along the pavements and pathways.

This is both a season of peace, and a season of unpredictability.

A season of briskness and expectancy and a season of lingering wonderment.

A season of hopes,

A season of dreams,

A season of days undone and melded together into one.

A season of fragments brought together like a window of stained glass.

It is the season of this chapter of my life ... and I am enjoying the story.

A Sad Farewell

I know Jewels loved mother and child pictures so heres a little tribute:0)

It's amazing how quickly, through reading a blog, you seem to become attached to it. How

almost without realising it becomes a part of your life and reading it becomes a treasured time in your day.

I feel quite a sense of loss as Jewels at the beautiful "Eyes of Wonder" has decided to delete her very special blog. The desicion is the right one as her family must come first, and as she rightly explains, the internet exposes them to all kinds of unwanted attention. " Eyes of Wonder"

often genrated over 2000 hits a day! And of course you never know who is out there. It's so unfortunate that in the world we live in we have to be so afraid of such things isn't it.

Maybe this is partly why Jewels' blog spoke to so many people's hearts.

Sometimes the world just seems to be full of negativity, and despair. When you find something which is utterly filled with God's beauty and love it is like finding a candle in the darkness.

Jewels' life is a simple one. Her family of ten are homeschooled and semi self sufficent. They make their own clothes, and their home is filled with the children beautiful handmade creations or treasured finds form thrift stores. There home is also filled with many gifts from friends. As a family who naturally reaches out to others they are generously blessed in return.

A life of family, friends, work, play, love, joy, simplicity but above all a life built around God's word, touched so many, showed so many, inspired so many, comforted so many and shall be missed by so many.

Goodbye Jewels. Many blessings to you and yours.

The internet can be a haphazard environment to navigate at times, but thanks to it you held out your hand to another mother 2000 miles away and touched her heart with your life:0)

Let the spirit of love become released from the heart

May it pollenate and grow.

In my father's house

I have been thinking quite alot about Christian unity recently, and Robert's wonderful and thought provoking post at his blog "Mulled Vine" http://mulledvine.blogspot.com/2007/09/truth.html really motivated me to write about this issue on my blog.

LOVE, kindness, humility, gentleness,
are these not the attributes Jesus asks us to imitate?

We are called as Christians to bestow these gifts upon even those who seek to harm us.

Offering them as an embrace of union amoung fellow brothers and sisters in Christ should be something natural.

Sometimes, it seems, that all to often we see the argument first, the opinions, the ideologies and the differences between ourselves and another. We find these things before we search for their soul, their spirit, their intentions, the hurt, their joy, their love, their inner beauty.

Only seeing the outlines, the two dimensions of another human being turns them into an object, a set of ideas we either agree or disagree with. Aren't people so much more than this.

Search to find the contours, the light and shade, the colours of another's inner being and we will see the reflections of God also. Glinting like shards of sunlight upon deep waters. Illuminating, the shadows.. the indentations.. the negative spaces.

Bringing them all to the surface.

We need to love freely. We need to LOVE first.

Digging, picking, probing, thinking, rethinking....

God's love is pure and simple.

It is all that is required.

.

It is what unites everything from the light which reflects from smallest particle of dust beneath an open window to the vastness of a supernova millions of light years away.

Why are Christians of different denomiations so suspicious of eachother, particularly it seems, over the internet?

Regardless of the differences between everybody one thing over rides everything.

"Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end."

Corintians 1 - 13 The Message

Engaging only with the child of God in other's. The child of God alone. Not the exteraneous, the integral.

James 4:1 "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?"

A human's relationship with God is such a deeply powerful and personal thing, however everyone is called to it in a different way, and called to express it in a diffrent way. Each person's life, situation, experiences etc.. are diffrenet and God know's how to call people to a church that is best for them.

"In my Father's house there are many mansions: If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. John 14:2-3

In the end we all fall to our knees beneath one Cross.

Douay-Rheims BibleBy this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.

John 13:35

THE STORY OF THE EMPTY JAR AND THE TWO CUPS OF COFFEE.......

The story of an empty jar and the 2 cups of coffee…….
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the story of an empty jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large empty jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks until the top of the jar.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was!

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.

He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

”Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ” I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things - your health, your family, your partner, your children, your friends, your favorite passions - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.

The sand is everything else - the small stuff.

If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks.

The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal

”Take care of the rocks first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

The Sacred Everyday

amen.

Baby Bunnies!!!

Much to my daughters' delight, out two dwarf lop rabbits Poppy and Peter have become proud parents to 5 little baby rabbits. Named (so I am told) Marigold, Nibbles, Rosypetal, Cottontail and Peter jr :0)

They are very adorable as you can see.

Flowers that Sleep by Night

The flowers that sleep by night,

opened their gentle eyes and turned them to the day.

The light, creation's mind, was everywhere,

and all things owned its power.

~Charles Dickens

PRAYING

Praying

It doesn't have to be

the blue iris, it could be

weeds in a vacant lot, or a few

small stones; just

pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try

to make them elaborate,

this isn't

a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which

another voice may speak.

~ Mary Oliver ~

Two little Friends

My 1 year old loves her little baby sister so much. It fills my heart with joy to see how gentle and sweet she is with her.

Two babies together, one a pudding, the other, pocket size :0)

Both of them laid so quiet and still (two words which don't often apply to either of them for very long:0) on my bed with me this evening!

Cuddled up with a song and a bundle of pillows and blankies.

My 1 year old's eyes are a soft turquise colour, the baby's brown slate.

It makes my heart smile to see how they gaze at eachother deeply almost as if they can read the other's thoughts.

Daydreams and lullabies took them to the land of nod while the sun set softly behind the trees outside our window.

Accompanied by small expressions of affection, gestures of love. Wet kisses, patted heads, teased hair, hands held.

Two little friends, together.

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT

The Greatest Commandment -

Mark 12. 28-34

"And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
There is none other commandment greater than these.
And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him,
Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. "

Before, above and beyond ANYTHING else Jesus asks of me, he asks me to LOVE.
This sounds so simple and in a way it is. Yet it calls us to cast aside all that is not in God's plan. It calls us to fill every movement, every intention, every breath with the spirit of his gentle, compassionate, encompassing, wondrous, beautiful love.
Even when it seems we cannot find one drop left within us to give, Jesus reminds us that HE is the source of our strength it is HE who will Love, Give and Work THROUGH us when we falter and fall in our fallibility.
When we are weak HE will be strong for us. All we need do is ask, surrender and accept the warm embrace of his LOVE. So that we may work his LOVE like a golden tapestry through our lives. A thread that holds every stitch in place, every broken seam, every fraying edge.

Corinthians 12:9-10
But he said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. "

The greatest commandment is LOVE therefore my greatest achievement is to LOVE. What is any success in this life worth if it was not done for HIM in HIS name in the spirit of HIS love. Everything is worthless without love. Nothing lasts but love.

"I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have the faith needed to move mountains-but if I have no love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned-but if I have no love, this does me no good.
~1 Corinthians 13:1-13

So If all I ever do I do in love it is enough.
Furthermore, if all I ever do is LOVE, it is enough

The pursuit of ?

I have been meaning to write something on this subject for a while and have been finally inspired to actually do so by the wonderful articles on http://littlejennywren.blogspot.com/ and http://isabellainthe21stcentury.blogspot.com/ concerning the position of the family in modern life.

Taking my eldest daughter back to school yesterday made me feel so sad with resignation as I was once again reminded of the relentless pace of modern life. I truly believe that the constant rushing about, the endless commitments to this or that, the extra curricular activities, long working hours have all had a terribly erosive effect upon both family life, community life and the quality of life in general. Life, it seems has become a pressure cooker ready to boil over. So many people seem to be just hanging on to the frayed edges of their responsibilities, in a state of existence instead of living. Children and adults alike have no time at the perimeters of each day to just be themselves, just be with each other, JUST BE in general.

For many people, in order to pay for the basics either both parents have to work or one has to work incredibly long hours. Ten hour days are considered by many to be standard these days and that doesn't include the commute. I just feel so sad that we as a society and in more general terms, the world at large, is in an endless, relentless, unbridled pursuit of an "idealised" "perfect" life. It is in the blind pursuit that the important things, the truly wonderful things and the precious moments of life are lost, discounted and unrealised, discarded, neglected and left for a tomorrow that never comes.

Family life, relationships, simple interactions between people. Respect, kindness, compassion, trust, empathy and love are what create cohesive societies, communities and families. When family life is not prioritised as the root of a healthy society the society as a whole begins to breakdown and decay.

Everything seems back to front and upside down. We work so that we may enjoy our families however the structure of work in these modern times combined with our insatiable consumerism have collectively formed a highly restrictive design for our lives.

The only way to cope with the pressure is to find ways to spend the money we have worked so hard to earn on things that can numb and distract us from our exhaustive reality.

My daughter typed up and printed out a motto for our family during the holidays and I think it sums it all up.

"Always speak with a smile. Address other's with kindness from the heart.

Nothing is worth sacrificing patience, love and understanding for.

If you can't keep your cool doing what your doing stop doing it :0)

That's that!"

I love this simple, straightforward perspective. Put into the no nonsense wording that only a child could find to explain something so simple and true:0) And isn't it true? These should be the priorities of life. No matter what we achieve, what is it worth if it was done at the expense of, family, friendship, kindness, love.

The smallest acts of kindness and love are worth more than grand gestures that sacrifice these things in order to be realised.

If you haven't visited Jewel's blog at Eyes of Wonder ( check the sidebar for a link:0) I highly recommend it. The beautiful journalling of her families simple but incredibly loving and joyful life both illustrates and highlights that which is most precious of all. Simplicity, family, love, faith, joy and wonderment of the journey not just the destination :0)

Every moment is a gift, an allotment of time to which we are the tennants.

Making Rain

When my three year old yawns her eyes always tear up.

"Look Mummy," she says " I'm making rain with my eyes."

Making Gingerbread

My three year old held her baby sisters hands in hers the other day and as the baby's (now just 4 months) little fingers squirmed, wriggled and squeezed my little girls fingers I heard her gently ask " Are you making ginger bread with me "S"? Are we cutting out gingerbread together?"

What this means? I'm not quite sure, but it did make me smile :0)

Place on thy Heart

"Place on thy heart

one drop of the Precious

Blood of Jesus

and

fear

nothing"

words of

Pope Pius IX

The Story of Deepa... She gave out of her Poverty...

It was a hot south Indian summer afternoon when Deepa's father came to visit his daughters. He looked terrible. In the weeks leading up to the visit, his health had gotten progressively worse. He would frequently be found passed out in the communal toilet in his slum, sometimes lying in his own diarrhea. The man was obviously in the final stages of the disease. I thought his two little girls were going to splinter his frail bones when they jumped up onto his lap that afternoon.

A couple days after his visit, Deepa's father committed suicide. The humiliation, the pain, and the decay of his body pushed him over the edge. He took his life to bring an end to his suffering. As you can imagine, his daughters were heartbroken. Phileena and I rushed to the home to find Deepa and Charu weeping. We held these little ones close, prayed with them, tried to encourage them with Scripture, and promised we'd be there for them when they needed us. Our hearts were broken.

In the sad series of goodbyes that our lives seem to offer us, it came time for Phileena and me to once again pack up and leave Chennai. We spent our last day with the children at the home. Deepa and Charu stayed close to us the entire day. When everyone had hugged and exchanged tearful goodbyes, we walked past the gates of the home, turned around one last time to wave, and noticed Deepa had run inside. Before we could close the gate, she came running out of the home with a single yellow rose bud in hand. Deepa stood there, her face soaked in her own tears, holding out the flower to Phileena.


After her father had died, they cleaned out his slum and discovered that his only possession was a dismal potted rose bush with a solitary bud. It was her inheritance, the last reminder of her deceased parents. How could we take it?

I take that flower with me everywhere, showing it as often as I can to illustrate this little, tender, revolutionary heart. It is pressed into the place in my Bible where Jesus is in the temple spying on the donors to the treasury. In the story, he calls his disciples over and lets them in on the scene that's unfolding. There are some wealthy folks making substantial offerings, when out of nowhere comes a poor widow who puts some change in the collection, probably some near-valueless reworked Hasmonean copper coins.

These guys are eager to figure out what Jesus has in mind, but what he tells them must have shocked them. Christ does not venerate the high rollers in the group but points out the widow and claims her as his own. "She's mine," he must have thought. "I choose her." He goes on to say, "All of these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on" (Luke 21:4). The story suddenly became not about what was given, but what was left over--nothing.


Extract from Simple Spirituality by Chris .L. Heuertz.

Deer Are Smart

A family in Bend, Oregon found this fawn on their front steps a few weeks ago and took this photo. The white spots on the steps are apple blossom petals. As you may know, deer hide their fawns and go away for awhile. The fawns have no odor yet, and naturally stay absolutely still. Isn't this an amazing photograph? A great job of natural camouflage! The fawn stayed there all morning, and the mama came to get it after 4-5 hours. Kudos to the people for leaving the fawn alone, knowing Mom would be back. THE MOM "HID" HER BABY ON THE BROWN STEPS WITH WHITE SPOTS.