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Yesterday would have been Queen Elizabeth’s 100th birthday. Plans for a memorial to her, featuring a bronze sculpture that will overlook The Mall in central London, were revealed. King Charles spoke reflecting on Queen Elizabeth’s life and the world today. Quoting fourteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth’s first ever public broadcast, he said that we can each playContinue reading “Making the World a Better and Happier Place”

This morning I started reading 2 Chronicles. King David has died and his son Solomon has become king. God says to Solomon, ‘What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!’ Solomon replies: ‘…you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth! Give me theContinue reading “What Does Wisdom Look Like?”

This Weekend… …I had my hearing tested at ‘Hidden Hearing’. It’s a couple of years since I was last ‘done’. I was plugged in and put through the tests. My hearing has deteriorated in my left ear and I’m advised to wear hearing aids. Some of my hearing isn’t hidden; it’s disappeared! …We were playingContinue reading “When Hearing is Hidden”

Last night we went to Ipswich and watched ‘The Carpenters Story’. We heard Richard and Karen Carpenter’s rise to fame, and we enjoyed remembering many of the songs that made them famous in the 1970s. I learnt that ‘I need to be in love’ was Karen’s favourite: The hardest thing I’ve ever doneIs keep believingThere’sContinue reading “I Need To Be In Love”

Yesterday I visited my friend Paul in our local hospital – the ‘James Paget University Hospital’. James Paget was a local boy. Born in Great Yarmouth in 1814, Paget studied medicine in London. Studying the cause of diseases, he became one of the greatest surgeons and pathologists of his day. Wikipedia tells me that ‘Paget’sContinue reading “Where Pathology Meets Compassion”

1972 was a significant year for me. It was the year I qualified as a teacher and started teaching. Rachel and I got married and bought our first house together. I didn’t know what life had in store for me, but there were endless possibilities and opportunities. Today, fifty-four years later I can look backContinue reading “When ‘No you can’t’ is OK”

Elizabeth Gilbert tells a joke about a poor Italian who goes to church and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging to win the lottery… every day for months. ‘Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, ‘My son – please, please, please…Continue reading “Two Sides of the Story…”

As a child, listening to ‘Uncle Mac’ on the radio playing ‘Children’s Choice’, I often heard Doris Day singing: Que sera, seraWhatever will be, will beThe future’s not ours to seeQue sera, sera ‘Qué será, será’ is the Spanish for ‘what will be, will be’. Much in life is beyond our control. This happy songContinue reading “Doris, William, Corrie and the Unpredictable.”

Shakespeare proposed the ‘seven ages of man’. I’m proposing ‘seven monkeys of man’: ‘Little monkeys’ – Said of little children…  Childish monkeys are cheeky, a bit naughty. We know that they’re not perfect, but we accept their faults. Adult monkeys seek to correct their little monkeys. It’s term of endearment, acceptance. ‘Monkeying around’ – InContinue reading “The Seven Monkeys of Man”

It was a good weekend – family gatherings, meeting up with friends, watching TV sport, going to church… There were conversations, laughter, shouting at the referee, cheering the winners, cheerful chit-chat, serious discussions, drums, guitars, singing… All good, but there was lots of noise! There were also good quiet times alone – walking alone alongContinue reading “Silver Speech, Golden Silence”