Yesterday…
…chatting to my friend Tom. Recently Tom’s had trouble with his hearing. Conversations have included ‘Eh?’ What?’ ‘Pardon?’ ‘Could you say that again please?’
Recently he’s purchased hearing aids. He doesn’t have so much money in his bank account or an excuse for not hearing his wife Jane; he does have much improved hearing.
…9-year-old grandson Luca came to tea. Luca-rules (devised by his mother and grandmother) state that there must be ‘non-screen time’. He didn’t have TV or his tablet for an hour…
He did have an hour in the garden with his granddad. We picked apples and tomatoes (‘Is this ripe?’), removed blanket weed from the pond (‘This is disgusting but fun!’), discussed how pond-pumps work (almost educational) and devised a game involving rotten apples and a spring-loaded rat trap. (Don’t ask!)
…watching Ukrainian people, on TV, returning to their destroyed, devastated towns. I continue to be impressed. There’s so much they don’t have… family members are dead, homes destroyed, livelihoods taken. And yet we see what they do have… courage, resilience, pride, honour, determination…
Musing…
…The negative image of Christianity: ‘Don’t do this.’ ‘You can’t have that.’ ‘You’re not good enough.’ On Sunday at church Esther talked about a message that ‘sends people on a guilt trip’.
…Lyndall Bywater: ‘The church has a sad history of preaching without living. We have told people what they are doing wrong – lacing Bible verses through our sermons with vicious barbs – yet we have often failed to demonstrate what a society founded on godly principles would look like and we have failed to make it a reality.’
Jesus: ‘You are the salt of the earth.’ and ‘You are the light of the world.’ …Some lives don’t have flavour, others do have flavour; some lives don’t have light, others do have light… Don’t ignore the ‘don’t have’; focus on, change to, ‘do have’… both for yourselves, and in enabling others.
I think Tom will do that with his new hearing aids.
malcolmsmusings.org 