Over the last couple of weeks my patience has been really tested. I had to wait a long time at the hospital; Ray, my husband, had to wait to see the dentist and I was waiting for him in the car. We were to have a Smart meter fitted on a sunny afternoon and he didn’t turn…

Jonah wanted to watch what happened to Nineveh. He went out to a vantage point and made himself a shelter to protect himself from the sun while he boiled with rage at God’s mercy.  A large, leafy plant grew quickly and sheltered him adding to the comfort of his viewing platform. Then a worm chewed…

Lee Atwater was a well-known figure in U.S. politics. He engineered the successful 1988 presidential campaign of George H.W. Bush and was the head of the Republican National Committee (1988-10991). But in the midst of all his activities he developed an inoperable brain tumour and died at the age of 40. During his illness, Atwater came…

There was a time when masks were worn by actors to portray a character in a play – an animal, a bird, a monster. Children love making and wearing masks for fancy dress parties, and aristocrats in a bygone era wore masks to balls. Surgeons and theatre nurses wear masks to perform operations, and those…

What is contentment? Is it being satisfied with what you’ve got? Is it an acceptance that although you want more you have enough? What are the dangers of contentment? Complacency, taking your “eye of the ball?” Spiritual drift, forgetting to keep God at the centre of all we do. In an earlier Thought for the…

Psalm 46 v 1 and 10a.God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in troubleHe says, “Be still, and know that I am God How many decisions do you make each day? I have never counted them and I think the number would be quite large. The first for most people would probably be “will I get up…

During the summer of 1966 as a family we became the proud owners of a brand new Reliant Regal, not to be mistaken with the 1970’s Reliant Robin, our new purchse came in Rebel Red, a grand title for the 600cc little car.  My dad had been a motor cyclist who had promoted himself to…

I had a wonderful moment last weekend. As it happens, I was walking home from Church, across a park by our house. A young boy was running around, with the lady caring for him sitting on a bench nearby. Aware of social distancing, I decided to move to walk around them both, to avoid walking…

My sister is one of the most long suffering, patient people I have ever met. I incline to irascibility and while I always regret and often have to apologise for shortness of temper, I find it hard to be as good as she appears to be. I do not suppose I am alone in not…

Never in my life before March 2020 had I come across the word ‘lockdown’ with its meaning, that for our protection from the virus, most places were shut, including the doors of our houses. Lockdown has meant different experiences for different people. For the most vulnerable, it has meant ‘imprisonment’ in their homes, for others…