Author Archives: malcolmsmusingscom

As a child at Sunday School I learnt about the twelve tribes of Israel. I heard stories about people who lived in tribes in Africa or South America. I saw films about cowboys and American Indian tribes…. In our historical past, we spent our entire lives living as part of a tribe; today psychologists andContinue reading “Belonging to a Tribe”

Three things in which I’m significantly ignorant have set me musing… Yesterday we learnt of the discovery of seven new species of frogs in Madagascar. They’ve been named after Star Trek characters – Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer, Burnham and Pike, Apparently, instead of croaking they make high-pitched whistling noises which are supposed to soundContinue reading “My significant ignorance…”

I’m a creature of habit. Most days starts the same. I have a daily routine I wake up, get up: …hoping and praying that I shall be awake and alert to the opportunities of today I shave and shower: …needing to wash away yesterday’s unpleasantness– physically, mentally, spiritually. I get dressed: …remembering St Paul words:Continue reading “My Daily Routine”

At church yesterday Lou talked about Joseph. She described his broken family – his father Jacob, who’d lied, schemed and cheated… his eleven brothers and one sister from four mothers… the brothers who’d hated him and sold him into slavery… his final imprisonment on false rape charges. We thought about how, the reject from aContinue reading “Broken Families, Inclusion and Dancing”

On Tuesday a group of us from church met in our home. We shared concerns, prayed for each other and our friends, and read together this expression of our faith from the Northumbrian Community. We’ve shared it before. Lynn said: ‘Did you know it’s been set to music?’ I didn’t. Lord, You have always givenbreadContinue reading “Lord you have always given….”

It’s autumn. Leaves are falling from trees in our garden. I’ve cleared them several times. It’s an ongoing, continuing task at this time of year. At our ‘Singing for Wellbeing’ group yesterday we sung ‘Autumn Leaves’. People in the autumn of their lives singing about autumn: The falling leavesDrift by the windowThe autumn leavesOf redContinue reading “Autumn Leaves”

Yesterday somebody said: ‘It’s just a walk in the park’… Public parks became popular in the nineteenth century. A leisurely walk in the park was an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life, a place to enjoy fresh air and natural beauty… A ‘walk in the park’ today describes an easy or effortlessContinue reading “A Walk In The Park”

Chris has organised a raffle to raise money for our local air-ambulance. Yesterday, at Men’s Shed, he was using all of his powers of persuasion in a direct yet humorous way. He was subjected to good-natured abuse, but he ensured that his friends parted with their money. Some had said that it would be goodContinue reading “Authentic Consistency”

Yesterday, in our car, taking Grandson-Luca into Lowestoft, the road past the station was blocked off. There was a deep hole, several metres across in the middle of the road. This led to a nonsense conversation that was based around the notion that you can’t have half a hole, but that two halves make aContinue reading “The Hole and the Whole Hole”

Jesus described the mustard seed: ’…the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.’ A small seed becomes a big plant Many studies have shown that singing can make a big differenceContinue reading “The Mustard Seed – Small Becomes Big”