Taking Stock

600 days ago… Easter 2020… ‘lockdown’ was starting … I started a blog, calling it: ‘Malcolm’s Musings – reflections on life and faith…’

I wrote tentatively: ‘I spent many years as a teacher, where I enjoyed learning to be a ‘reflective practitioner’. I spent many years as a church leader, where I also enjoyed learning to be a ‘reflective practitioner’.

Now I am a reflective pensioner…’

Today, 600 musings later, like Ronnie Barker in ‘Open All Hours’ I’m stocktaking; like Fagin in Oliver I’m ‘Reviewing the Situation’…

I return to alliteration… causing some to smile and others to scream:

I’m learning to live more…

…Publicly… I’ve read a number of biographies recently. I’ve appreciated and learnt from honesty, openness and vulnerability.

I’ve written about my life – my thoughts, experiences, mistakes, prejudices… I’m learning to share my life with others, trying to understand myself and others better, living with more honesty, openness and vulnerability. Presenting myself as me.

…Positively… We watch the ongoing pandemic, depressing politics, climate change, civil wars, refugees… around me I see sickness, bereavement, family breakdown, mental illness…

And yet… so much in life is good… Good people – loving, kind, generous, funny, unique people – who all have something to teach me. And my loving Heavenly Father continues to give me his presence and peace.

…Purposefully… For many folk, each day is about survival – getting through the day. I understand that.

Each day I have a choice. I can sit back passively and let life happen to me or I can enter into the today’s new adventure. I can embrace good and bad with energy and enthusiasm, appreciating life, responding to needs…

…Prayerfully… Throughout my life I’ve prayed for people and situations, often telling God what I think he ought to do.

I’m learning to read my Bible each day with a more open heart, listening better to the voices of others and the voice of God. Learning to be a reflective pensioner… the art of musing.