The second of the temptations Jesus faced (Matthew 4:5–7) was the challenge to throw himself off a high building and trust God to keep him safe. The taunt, ‘if you are the Son of God’, underpins the Devil’s goading. Every time I read these verses, I have a couple of thoughts. First, years ago I…

I find it almost unbelievable that our grandson, not yet two years old, loves home made bread and butter. In my experience, most children turn their noses up at anything but white bread – I certainly did when I was at school. In the first of the temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness, he had…

Usually when someone says that something is a ‘blot on the landscape’ they refer to an unsightly human construction in the midst of nature. Or they note an out of place development amidst other more pleasing architecture. Looking across the fields recently in the February sunshine there was one ploughed field, recently relieved of its…

Twenty years or more ago my father advised me to make sure I had a lasting power of attorney in place well ahead of needing it. We have recently gone through the tortuous process of creating and registering the necessary documents so that we can be supported should it become necessary. It is a long…

We live in a house in which there are clocks in almost all rooms. They are synchronised on Sundays when they are wound and put right but as the week goes on, they drift apart, affected by air pressure and temperature and all the other things that old clocks are influenced by. One thing is…

In the last few months I have shared a few of these ‘thoughts’ based on the protracted experience of my retirement and that of two other colleagues. The latest one was really very funny provided I laugh at myself. On the occasion of the aforementioned ‘do’ I was at an all-day conference that ended with…

Just after a recent light snowfall I noticed that the snow had melted more quickly on a growing crop than on a grassy footpath. Most of the time we barely notice the effect of all our footsteps on the environment around us but here was a good illustration of the legacy of ramblers, dog-walkers, family…

‘Thou burning sun with golden beam, thou silver moon with softer gleam, O praise him’ (William Draper based on words of St Francis of Assisi) A clear and cold afternoon makes for a great walk and a chance to hear and see the sounds and sights that are hidden on cloudy, damp days. I set…

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the…

A happy New Year wherever you are. To be happy is to feel, show or cause pleasure or satisfaction according to the Cambridge Dictionary. That is fine but what are the ingredients for happiness? Walking along the beach at Southwold in the sunshine just ten days before Christmas seemed to be a perfect moment to…