Light and shade

Sun, water

Swimming, cheering

Games, fun

Easy talking

Common purpose

Building community 

Then the shadow of 2020

Reappears 

As we’re about

To enter lockdown

For five days

The day ends joyously

Especially 

For the winning house!

Community is palpable

May the light continue

To dispel the shade

Awash

I look up at night

And the inky dark

is awash with

stars.

No wonder humans

have been fixated on them

for millenia.

Our brains

look for patterns

but with less light pollution

there are just

so many!

Their majesty

leaves me speechless

and comforted

and at peace.

I remember

that the Greek root of

‘grace’ means

‘unearned gift’.

And I give thanks.

To Anne

Despite going to school

with Bob

from grade 5,

we didn’t become friends

until after school,

bonding over music.

Whenever I was at Bob’s place

his mum always took care

of me,

plying me with drinks

and Chocolate Monte biscuits.

But what stood out

was the love and care

in that service.

I never heard her

raise her voice

yet when she said ‘Robert’

in a particular tone

I knew she meant business.

Many years have passed

and now, sadly, so has she.

I realise part of my past

is gone, too.

I will remember her love.

Another morning

I wake in the arms

of my love

to canine antics

filled with love and exuberance.

I go out my back door as

lorikeets flap, chitter and screech.

We are greeted

on our morning walk

by grey overhead

and thick air

after morning rain.

The bay is a vista

of brooding magnificence,

crowned by a cormorant

wings outstretched

atop a weathered pylon

as row after row

of gentle wavelets glisten

and roll to shore.

As we leave the beach

we are bathed

in a fine dusting of rain.

Grace abounds on

another morning.

Christmas 2020

There is something about Christmas that reaches within me, touching me at a very deep level that is hard to put into words. Yet is it is well described by our Christmas lights – bright, colourful, ethereal and easily missed within the bushes if I’m not looking properly. All of the Christmas preparations – cards, gifts, food – are designed to connect us, to strengthen relationships. Who binds us together in our relationships but our God who is love.

Our God doesn’t behave like we want – no power, no glory, no ego. Yet still manifest all around us if we open our eyes. Which is why the baby at Christmas is such a telling image. A baby is powerless and can bring out the best in us including the nurturing relationships in which babies grow to their full flourishing.

May we open our eyes and our hearts to the people and the world around us – the gift of God-with-us – every day.

Glimpses

Light mist

over the bay

heightens the otherworldly,

sacred nature

of this regualr morning scene.

Singing, dancing

and innocent giggles

of young girls

to a favourite video.

Waning red glow

adds highlights

to the otherwise

leaden skies

at day’s end.

Until my eyes are fully open,

such glimpses

caught

of God’s handiwork

among the everyday

will have to suffice.