Longing for freedom

As I was sitting in my study the other day some movement out of my window caught my eye. The most amazing sight of five geese flying across my garden! They were so low that I felt that I could almost reach out and touch them. As I was gathering my breath at this encounter with nature, they flew back across again. Just wonderful. 

They brought to mind the lines from Violet Jacobs' poem ‘The Wild Geese’. 

‘And far abune the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee,
A lang, lang skein o’ beatin’ wings, wi’ their heids towards the sea,’

It is a poem about longing for home. So many of us can identify with such longing just now. Longing for life to return to the way it used to be. Longing to be able to earn a living again. Longing to do the simple things in life that we used to take for granted – visiting the library, coffee with friends, wandering around the shops. Longing to be reunited with loved ones.

We are called to be patient in these times of longing. Patience is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit and we can tap into that through our faith. Through our belief that God is with us in our longing and can give us the patience to keep going, no matter how tough it can be, until the day when we again have the freedom of the geese to go wherever we want.

Side-tracked

Whenever you run in a race, there is a lot of preparation to be done, and your plan is always to complete the race. But sometimes something occurs that stops you in your tracks.

Japan's first appearance at the Olympic Games was in Stockholm, 1912. Two athletes represented the country, including their marathon runner Shizo Kanakuri.

He began the race with the other runners but along the way was overcome with heat. It seems Kanakuri, on the verge of fainting from heat exhaustion, had been running past a banker's villa on the outskirts of Tureberg when he spotted people drinking orange juice in the garden. He stopped to quench his thirst but stayed a little too long - more than an hour. It was now, he thought, too late to get back in the race. He took a train to his hotel and caught a boat back home, too ashamed to tell anyone he was leaving.

For more than 50 years Shizo was listed as a missing person in Sweden until a journalist finally found him: he had spent several decades living a quiet life in southern Japan.

In 1966 the Swedish Public Television network called him with an offer: would you like to finish your run? The 76-year-old Kanakuri accepted and travelled to Stockholm to finish the race he had started so many years before. This time he did cross the finish line. His final time was 54 years, eight months, six days, eight hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds.

Like Kanakuri, I have been somewhat side-tracked from my path for a number of months. This blog, which I have so much enjoyed writing, has been sadly neglected. But, now I am back on track. I'm ready to pick up the pen again (or whatever the equivalent phrase is for typing on a keyboard) and see what flows.

I could be annoyed at myself for having been side-tracked but I've decided that it is actually ok. Our faith journey can often have similar moments. There are times when we are going full steam ahead - everything flows and we are moving and growing. Then there are times when we stagnate or even go off the rails completely. Then there are times when we too are side-tracked. But, I do believe that God understands. We can be fickle creatures but God is patient with us. There may even be learning and growing to do in the side-tracks that will stand us in good stead when we feel we are back on the right path again.

Wherever you are in your journey, and however long it takes, Go with the infinite grace, peace and patience of God.

Recipe for a Happy New Year

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2012 from here in the early morning sunshine in the Angus countryside.

I came across this Recipe for a Happy New Year:-

Recipe for a Happy New Year.

Take twelve fine, full-grown months; 

see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, 

cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; 

pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; 

in short, see that these months are freed from all the past

—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time. 

Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. 

Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time 

(so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) 

but prepare one day at a time.

Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, 

work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), 

hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, 

rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing— don’t do it), 

prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution. 

Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, 

a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.

Wherever you are and whatever this year holds for you may the God of peace go with you.

Happy New Year!