Things happen. Sometimes we look at things and think 'If only I'd done...' or 'If only I'd left a bit earlier...' Life is full of 'if onlys'!
So sometimes stuff happens that you really would rather didn't happen to you.
I have experience of two things like this in the last week and I am interested in my reaction to each one. Perhaps the teaching on the Fruit of the Spirit that I've been doing with the Women's Group at church is beginning to sink into my spirit and I am at last learning!
How do we act or react to negative situations? Do we have ourselves a little pity party or do we see how fortunate we actually are, even in the midst of difficulties? Is our glass always half full or half empty?
Last Thursday we had the strange phenomena of frozen rain. It was raining but the rain landed as sheer ice, glass-like ice and it was treacherous largely because it was so unexpected. It was raining and the ground looked wet, not icy!
So when I heard the noise of the dustbin men coming and I realised that we had not 'presented' our bin for collection I popped on my plastic Crocs and shot out of the door. And then shot up in the air and landed very heavily at the bottom of the six stone steps that were covered in the aforementioned glass-like ice!
I was in shock.
I couldn't move at first and when I tried to get up I just slid on the ice. I managed to get onto my knees and retrieve my shoe which had shot off and under the neighbour's car. I also managed to hobble over to the bin and 'present' it for emptying. I managed to get up the steps on all fours and into the house and then I managed to slump onto the sofa.
Then the pain began! I noticed I was bleeding on my left arm and I realised that I had hit in three places and the place that took the greatest impact was my bottom! Then my side above the waist, then my left arm. I had also banged my head but this was not significant as my bigger, more padded derriere had received the biggest bang!
So I sat and waited for Duncan to come home. When he did we assessed my bruising that was beginning to come out and realised how lucky I was! Yes I was very lucky. I didn't break my ankle, elbow or back and ended up with very painful bruising but no lasting damage. It could have been so much worse. A week of largely sleepless nights as it was painful to breathe when I lay down was the biggest problem - and spectacular bruising! Spectacular!
My glass very definitely half full there!
Second occasion - we set off on Monday to a cottage in the Dales about an hour's drive away, for a five day break. We were really looking forward to it and sped along happily until we had almost got to Skipton. Then we were overtaken by a van who pulled along side us and the driver wound down his window to shout at us. We wound down our window...
'You've got smoke pouring out of your back wheel, mate!!!'
'Oh....thanks!'
Fortunately we were just approaching a roundabout where there was a petrol station/
Co-op shop so we pulled in and examined the damage. Oh yes, there was a lot of smoke and the wheel was very hot and the smell......
We phoned the AA and about an hour and a half later the nicest AA man turned up and had the wheel off in no time. The hand brake cable had stuck 'on' and was causing the brakes to seize. He sorted this and checked the other wheel and we were on our way again and arrived late but in one piece.
It could have been so much worse. The man could have ignored the smoke and we could have driven on until the tyre burst into flames. We could have been in the middle of nowhere. It could have been minus temperatures as it had been the previous days. It could have been a more serious problem and we would have had to return home. Instead of which we were mildly inconvenienced and met a really nice man from the AA who, coincidentally, gave us some good advice about what cars to buy/avoid!
Glass half full again!
I remember the times when I would not have reacted to such incidents with such calm. I would have gone through the: 'Why me?' or 'Why do these things always have to happen to us?'
Instead of which our blood pressure remained steady and we got on with things and counted our blessings.
It's all about perspective, how you look at things.
I think the studies on the Fruit of the Spirit have helped!
Duncan writes...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/09/amazon-publishing-bookshop-boycott-grows
I realise I have not done myself any favours. Like many, I have been seduced by the jungle, have browsed books in the early hours and bought them, to find them dropping seductively through my letterbox, only a day or so later.
But now the UK landscape is selling only one battered volume: ‘Custer’s Last Stand.’ Waterstones (having already clipped their apostrophe) remain the last flag flying for that oasis of civilized behaviour, the bookshop, on an increasingly ruthless high street. Are we to surrender our volumes to this behemoth?
I bit the hand that fed me many a Saturday afternoon in Borders. The easy browsing with coffee and comfy chairs and a place to watch the world go by is, heartbreakingly, lost.
‘What is the matter?’ ‘Between whom?’ ‘The matter you read, my lord.’
Get behind me, e-book, Kindle and any other.
Forever let it be folded corners and the finding of a postcard in years to come that marked the place we got to that rainy holiday.
‘Dear reader, I will not marry him.’
We're trying to cut down on the amount we spend at the supermarket and to that end we have calculated a weekly maximum amount that we have budgeted for food.
We've tried to cut down before but have always been seduced by the 'bargains' that we simply couldn't ignore! The 2 for 1 or BOGOFs that fill the fridge and freezer until they pass their sell by dates and are jettisoned into the bin!
It's so easy to arrive at the supermarket clutching a list of, say, 20 items you need and then an hour later, leave with a trolley FULL of items you thought would be nice and a bargain!
So, this time we are not allowing ourselves the safety net of the plastic, the 'flexible friend'! We draw out the week's allowance in cash and we shop using cash. It doesn't half make a difference to your mental attitude as you push your (smaller) trolley round. It's easier to say no to the things not on the list and it gives much more incentive to economise and actually save! Real notes, hard cash being passed over at the check out makes you realise how much you are spending and how hard you have had to work to put those notes in your purse in the first place. The first week over and we made a surprising saving and still managed to eat very well!
Handle your cash, don't always deal in plastic - it DOES make a difference!
People ask: "Why do you call your blog Currys in Cape Town when you came back from Cape Town and live here?"
Well, firstly, I think it would be true to say that we left a significant part of our hearts in Cape Town and also, when I look at the audience figures for this blog, I am amazed at how widespread my audience is and I would hate to lose anyone by terminating this site! Take a look at last week's stats:
And this wasn't a particularly busy week!
It would be so good if some of these readers would 'join' and make comments!
The new website for the church has a blog section and I intend that this become the church's blog and the other one will fold but not this one! These two Currys will always be in Cape Town in one way or another!
www.harvesterhalifax.org.uk
...OUR NEW CHURCH WEBSITE!
There is a link at the bottom of the page too.
We are very grateful to Graham and Ben Unsworth for their help in setting us up and running yesterday and we are delighted that we and Birmingham Harvester Reformational Church have the same corporate image!
Every journey has to begin somewhere. If it's an uphill struggle then the start is often the most difficult part of the whole journey - the decision that you ARE going to make the journey, you Are going to do it!
The new year is often a time for new resolutions - lose weight, get fit, get the finances in order, stop biting your nails!
Losing weight - now there's a subject I could write a book about, and getting fit! The thing is, I have managed both in the past. I have lost several stones and been fit enough to run half marathons (four, in fact, though you may not believe it if you saw me now!) So what happened? Life happened. I ate more than I used in my activities and I stored the excess as body fat. Not rocket science, just a simple equation - I did too much of one thing and not enough of the other and got the resultant imbalance. Then, taking exercise is harder; it hurts more the more body you have to move about so you are even less motivated to do it and the weight creeps up...creeps up...creeps up....
I got arthritis in my knee and my hip so that made exercise harder; harder but not impossible but it was another deterrent to getting fit and allowing the creep...
So you find yourself at the bottom of a very long uphill climb and actually beginning seems impossible so you don't! You make excuses and the creeping continues...and so it gets harder and harder....what a cycle of viciousness!
Looking at 'before' and 'after' photos can motivate you but then you look at your own 'before' and 'after' pictures and feel devastated that you let it all go!
Slump!
Creep...creep...creep...
You have "an enormous amount to lose" and to lose a couple of pounds a week seems like such a drop in the vast ocean that it hardly seems worth it...creep...creep...creep
So, I gave myself a hefty kick up the backside this week and decided that I have to DO something about it! No-one else can do anything but me! No amount of people telling you that you don't look fat...you are such a lovely bubbly person you wouldn't look good thin...Oh don't worry about your weight, life's too short BUT THAT'S JUST THE POINT!
I don't want to shorten my life, I'm enjoying it far too much. So, I have to take back control and stop the creep...creep...creeping!
I know it won't be easy and it IS an uphill climb, but like the climb in the photo, the view is so worth it. My 'view' will be comfort in my body and clothes, a better feeling about myself and so many clothes hidden away in the back of the wardrobe that I will be able to wear again!
So I'm starting the climb. I have not declared that I am going to give up anything but I am going to have less of the foods that I know don't do me and my climb any good. I am going to get this body moving more - I have had 3x30 minute stints on the exercise bike this week and have 'cycled' 39 kms! I have started and I do feel better.
So, if anyone out there reading this needs a bit of a kick, a motivator, a companion on the uphill climb I am very happy to 'compare notes'! I may be puffing and panting too much to chat as we go but having someone else on the journey is always good!
(I also should add that I will be praying for extra help to resist the tempting things and have less of them; cheating? Maybe, but allowed in this case I think! Available to all, no exclusions, so not cheating!)
Such a tragedy, made all the more so because this liner was so close to land yet people have died; been trapped and died.
All the obvious links to the Titanic disaster which happened 100 years ago this April, spring to mind. Apparently, according to some news reports, in one part of the stricken ship Celine Dion's voice was singing out the theme tune from the film as the ship went down.
I remember quite a lot of details about the tragedy of the Titanic from the many times I taught 'An Inspector Calls' for GCSE English Literature. But this morning I Googled it again and found an alphabetical list of all the people who were lost with the ship, nearly 100 years ago. Their names, occupations, cabin class and how much they had paid to be aboard on this fateful maiden voyage of the ship that 'couldn't sink', recorded in a long, long list. It took a long time to scroll through all the names!
So many farmers, grooms, maids......all perished because of human error; a fatal flaw in the ship's design and consequent response to the holing by the ice berg.
And now we see images of the Costa Concordia and read of lives lost, also because of human error. Human pride that made the decision to go off course in order to display the grandeur of this splendid ship at night to the nearby islanders.
And the captains? What of the captains of these vessels? Those charged with the responsibility for the lives of all aboard, both crew and passengers?
It's a fact isn't it, that the captain is the last man to leave a sinking ship? Everyone knows this don't they? I do, and have always understood that this is the way it should be. I grew up with this understanding gleaned from films, stories...it is just what happens. If a ship sinks then the captain has the responsibility to stay on board until the last...humbly saluting as he courageously disappears beneath the waves if Hollywood is to be believed. Captain Edward Smith went down with the Titanic.
Captain Francesco Shettino apparently 'fell into' a life boat and then spent many minutes arguing with the coast guard who was so incensed at his dereliction of duty that he threatened to do him a damage!
"This is your captain speaking..." the voice you hear when you're 35,000 feet up and excitedly on your way to Cape Town! He tells you about your progress, the weather in Cape Town and invites you to relax and enjoy the journey. HE is responsible. He has trained for it, is paid for it and IS responsible for getting us up there, getting us over there and landing us safely there. Just so the captain of the ship! Captain - 'chief or leader' as the dictionary simply states. With the title comes much responsibility.
So what can be said in Captain Shettino's favour? Is there anything?
It is one thing to make an error of judgement, to be prideful and to suffer the consequent fall, but not to own up to that responsibility? To lie, to leave those who you are responsible for to sort themselves out, survive or perish without your help!
It is not for us to pass judgement but it does lead me to wonder...who is the captain of your ship? Who is steering your course and can he/she be relied upon not to 'go off course' into imminent danger? When you have faith in God, a real relationship with God, you have the assurance that God will NEVER go off course. He will never lead you astray. He will always have your best interests at heart as long as you listen to Him and obey what He says. Yes, He does speak to those who have ears to hear and He promises that He is the same today, yesterday and for ever. He is I Am - but that is a whole other blog!
