Away

Well I have been at my daughter’s for a week babysitting the cat and my g’daughter.  Has been nice and peaceful and decided I would use the time for a kind of retreat and bible study.  Not to be, that funny thing that happens the minute you want some peace and quiet, or pick the bible up happens.

First my hubby will come in.  Now this happens at home the same, whatever time I pick the bible up he is guaranteed to arrive through the door.  Then when he went I would try again, but g’daughter would emerge from the bedroom sometime around midday.  Eventually she would go out, so I settle down again.  By now it would probably be mid-afternoon.

Just over the back someone is doing building work and has been for months, the noise of grinders, hammering, machinery booms out louder than necessary because the road behind somehow works as some kind of echo bowl.  The noise reverberates and aims itself at me as if coming through a loudhailer.  This noise was used when the hubby and g’daughter distraction had passed. 

If all else failed then by that time of day the other great aid to bible reading would happen, I would fall asleep after the first few minutes.  Your eyelids get heavier and heavier and you just have to shut them for a little while, and bang your gone.  Deep sleep.

4.30pm saw the coming home of next doors young twins and out into the garden they would go playing and kicking the ball against the fence.  Then cooking commenced in neighbouring houses with the clatter of pans and the distraction of lovely food smells wafting in through the open doors.

There was nowhere to get away from it all as being a new town house all the living accommodation is at the back of the house and it was very hot, so doors and windows had to be opened.  Anyway the cat wanted to lay in the doorway, just out of the direct sun and with the gentle breeze blowing across her and as it was her house who was I to argue.  I after all was just the babysitter.

Now don’t get me wrong I loved spending time with g’daughter but I thought I would get to do both as teenagers don’t tend to stay in much do they?

Well the first 2 nights she actually came home early, the third she brought home 2 friends for a sleep over, and the funniest of all was on Wednesday. 

She wanted to go somewhere that both me and her Mum thought she shouldn’t go.  Now I had no problem if it had been early in the day but it wasn’t and Mum who was away anyway had said no over the phone.  Well you know how teenagers can be and a discussion was had with me saying, ‘well you know what I have said so it is up to you now’.  With that God was on my side, the heavens opened, the thunder rolled and the lightening flew across the sky.  The person she was going meet who was fishing, phoned and said, ‘don’t come I’m scared of the thunder, I’m leaving’.  Well this made us all laugh and I said, ‘see, told you Nanny knows best.  They met at a far more suitable place.

So the week ended and I had a peaceful and enjoyable week and loved spending some time with g’daughter but as for the rest, well, it didn’t quite happen the way I thought it would.

Jenny <><

New post

For those interested in Christian things i have just posted in my other blog Learning and Yearning.

 http://learningandyearning.blogspot.com/

 Jenny

Mixed bag

It has been a bit of a mixed bag this last week.  There have been ups and downs.  Fun moments, anxious moments, challenging times and times when you think again about the awesomeness of God as you see him work.

There wasn't even any church Sunday night to go to, as there was a big special service for the superintendent's leaving do at another church a few miles away.

A bit of a scare midweek when hubby text me to say there was a big fire in the High Street.  That was all he had heard on the radio and as our church is on the High Street we hoped that wasn't it or the derelict buildings next door.  It wasn't, it was an Italian restaurant further down.  Completely gutted.

Just had our last bible study for the summer, will meet again in September.  That will give me a chance to get some prepared in advance and get ahead of myself.  Spending some time over my daughters soon babysitting the house, cat and teenage g'daughter.  So I thought I would spend the time using it as a bit of a retreat.  Read my bible, listen to God, praise and worship.  That is the plan anyway, we shall see if it works.

Well I said this week had been a mixed bag, I just opened my cupboard door and two old casserole dishes of my mum's fell out and smashed all over the kitchen floor.  It has scratched all the flooring as well so feeling a bit peeved at the moment.

Jenny <><

Seriously

As soon as a baby girl can sit up on her Daddy's knee, she looks up at him with those big eyes and long lashes and learns to wrap him round her little finger.  This is where girls learn to relate to men.  They flirt, manipulate, learn how far they can go, push, before exasperation sets in.  They learn to understand their femininity.  How to cope with and handle the woman they will grow up to be.  It is all preparation for the time the hormones kick in and they go into the world to find their soulmate, hopefully for life.

So what happens to girls nowadays in this world where we seem to no longer require men.  Girls are more often than not, now brought up in one parent families where the father is mainly or totally absent from soon after birth.  They no longer have that knee to learn upon, a role model to teach them how men and women relate to each other.

We seem to have a new trend emerging I believe because of this.  More and more young girls are turning to their girlfriends for love, affection and sexual fulfilment.

Girls are saying that all girls are bisexual and even if they don't believe that, say it to keep face with their mates.  They kiss, cuddle and hug each other even if they have a boyfriend.  At sleepovers they all share a bed and will tell you they like to snuggle up and cuddle each other to sleep.

From there a larger number than before will go on to full sexual relationships with a girlfriend.  I believe it is because they feel safe, females are what they know about and also it is the fad of the day.  It is pushed at them by the media, magazines and the world of stardom with actors and singers.  It is the modern thing to do.  And after all you cannot get pregnant.

Boys also play a part in this too.  It's not really their fault, but they to suffer from not having a father figure, role model.  After all how do they know how to treat a girl properly and with respect when they have never been party to a proper husband wife relationship.

Another trend that I think is helping girls to think girls are best is that more women are leaving their husbands, sometimes of many years, and going to live in a lesbian relationship with other women.  What signal does this give out to young impressionable girls?

The tide will turn and the pendulum will swing back, it always does, but in the meantime we have a lot of very mixed up youngsters about, unsure of their sexuality or their place in this crazy world we have turned it into.

God did not say for fun, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh." He really did know what he was talking about.

Jenny <><

Bits and Bobs

Went over the RSPB nature reserve the other day and realised once again that I am a country girl at heart.  I love the smell of the country and the sounds.  I don't mean the smell you get when you drive past smelly farm, but that smell of grass, meadow, earth that you only get in the country away from too much civilisation.  Also a major river runs alongside, it's a tidal river so there is that unique smell associated with a salty river.

There I could stay, just me and the one who made it all.  Sharing a word here and there.  Turning to smile at each other as we both spot a butterfly passing by.  Enjoying that feeling of oneness when it is enough to sit together and there is no need of words.  I am my beloved's and he is mine.

Deep sigh!

Saw my green woodpecker in the garden today.  I just got my binoculars out as he was coming nearer the house and out came the neighbour to hang out her washing.

Another deep sigh!

He has taken me to the banqueting table, and his banner over me is love.  Song of Songs

Jenny <><

No. 6 blessing

Quite a few years ago I heard someone mention the No. 6 blessing.  I was confused.  I hadn't realised that there was a list of blessings.  Who wrote them?  Where would i find them?  Why had I never heard of them before and what was the No. 6 one?  Was it more special than the others?

 

This was a puzzle to me for a number of years and I felt too silly to ask anyone what the No. 6 blessing was, especially as everyone else seemed to know.

Then one day the secret was revealed.  Did I feel stupid or what.  A great lesson learned.  Clean your ears out and listen properly.  There was no numbered list of blessings.

Please turn to Numbers 6 verse 24.

"The Lord bless you and keep you;  the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;  the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace."

Jenny <><

I’m sitting in my dining room looking out at my garden.  At the bottom of the garden is an enormous Oak tree.  I love this tree and have watched it grow for over 35 years, and boy has it grown in the last few years.

This tree is full of life from top to bottom although strangely not very often full of acorns.  In fact the tree could be called Oak city due to the way it is used by the wild life.

Let me explain.  In the top quarter the crows perch and once but only once nested.  Half way down the tree to the bottom of the tree the wood pigeons like to sit.  They don’t seem to like the very top, probably sways too much for them to hold on.  Again half way down to the  bottom the magpies come, usually with a view to annoy and bully any other bird that seems like good sport.

Blue and great tits flit in and out the bottom half.  Surprisingly it’s sparrows and starlings that never seem to use it.  Black birds and robins perch in the bottom branches also and green woodpeckers run up and down the trunk.

Now I must mention the green woodpeckers because my husband is always moaning about the holes they leave in the lawn.  That’s a whole different discussion, but when he described the size of said woodpecker he reckoned it to be about the size of a small penguin by where his hand was off the ground.  Having explained to him they are about the size of the magpies without the long tail he just grunted.  So of course now whenever we see one we just shout, ‘your penguin is in the garden’.

If you look closely at the trunk of the tree there are ants running up and down.  Now how far they go I have no idea as I have never climbed the tree and don’t intend to, but it would be interesting to know though.

When we have a good crop of acorns there are plenty of squirrels about and then the magpies really have fun.  They seem to like nothing better than annoy the squirrels.  It gives me hours of pleasure watching them think up new ways to rattle the squirrels who in the end get so angry they end up chasing them.

So there you have it my Oak tree like a city to lots of diverse birds and creatures all living in their particular part of it, and I cannot sit and look at it without seeing something of the glory of God’s creation before me.

 Jenny <><