There is a time and a place for everything

I went along to my Vineyard service this morning after having somewhat reluctantly arose from my warm bed a half hour before the meeting was due to start but I made it on time. We are all asked to do duties and one of them is greeting the people who arrive by standing at the door of the church and engaging them before they come in. This is particularly important with newcomers who may be unfamiliar with the building or the services.

I stood there holding my coffee with my friend Dave and shortly afterwards someone came along who looked very poorly indeed. We asked him how he was as he said ‘ not very well’. That was obvious because his face was pale, his demeanor was downbeat to put it politely and there was no signs of enthusiasm.

I could have engaged him on the spot because he was there and the need was there but with traffic driving past it is not ideal for me to be able to focus on someone fully. We suggested he go and get a warming cup of coffee and a few minutes later I saw someone chatting to him in quite an animated fashion so he found his feet in the meeting somehow. Most of us do not thrive living on our own. It is hard-wired in to us to need company of whatever sort. I wonder how much pornography and drug abuse goes on because people do not get nurtured by their community.

Our depressed friend above brings up the whole topic of when to raise an important subject. That should be some indication on the part of the person who want to speak to that they are free enough from worrying about other matters to be able to focus on what you are saying. Not matter if it is the greatest wisdom in the whole wide world, if the timing is wrong then things will not go to plan. If it is a matter that is likely to cause people to have to dig deep you would never launch on something lightly. It is more likely that you should have a conversation about having a conversation and ask them if it is okay. It may be that you are not the best person to raise the topic with, in which case you hand over to the universe and ask that a person who can help them comes along.

It is also likely that the presenting problem is only marginally connected to the main problem which may be for example accepting and loving oneself and that may have gone on for most of their lifetime.

A candid address at a service

During the service which started about half past 10 in the morning we had an overlong singing and praising session followed by a summon /address followed by talking in groups. Rob who is the group leader spoke with great candidness about the fact that he and his wife had had difficult issues over the past couple of weeks with leadership situations and so on. Details are outside the scope of this diary but he admitted to being ‘down’  and wondering if he had anything to contribute. This ‘wondering’ applied to the 10 minutes or so Rob spent talking to us but it turned out perfectly well in the end.

I do enormously admire people who are honest about themselves. I cannot stand window dressing or preaching or implying that you need to follow a particular path. I will make up my mind in my own time thank you very much. I commented to those in my small group that most of the people who had influence me were not aware that they were influencing me; they were just being themselves.

Inspiration

With regard to writing including this diary, time and time again I remind anyone who will listen that it is about inspiration not expiration. If we place ourselves in the right frame of mind we will be inspired by the universe. I find this every single day when I write my diary. When the day starts, I have no idea what I am going to write but things always turn up and I always write. I regard the brain as an antenna not an originator it is rather more a storage thing for the mind and the spirit.

If during the day, nothing has popped up say by six pm all I have to do is to sit back and wait actively and something pops up that was so obvious to me, maybe too close to the obvious perhaps, and off I go. Rightly or wrongly I have made a target of 1500 words per day but this has lapsed over the Christmas. probably because I haven’t done so much work or I have been out and about.

A walk along the Avon and Kennett canal

To the River Avon, more specifically to Monkton Combe, Dundas aqueduct. In the good old days, you could park for nothing during the winter but now in an effort to save money the local council have decided to charge us so we had to pay £2.70 for 2 hours for the privilege of walking up and down the river alongside the existing canal and also the railway. It was beautiful in the sunshine.  See photos.

not the height of luxury

there is also someone who goes around selling bags of coal

a canal bridge over the river and the rail track

Pretty much everybody is in a good mood so you can talk to who you please. The canal boat owners are focusing on getting lots of wood in and there was much activity in this connection.

We spoke to one chap who was chopping up wood into small pieces. I noticed that the wood was completely dry and thus it was very easy to chop. He lives contentedly with his wife on the boat for 12 months a year. He spoke about the damp problems of being on a boat and said that they had to leave the windows open summer and winter otherwise the moisture builds up and it becomes unhealthy.

As for previously mentioned… cyclists on the canal path can be a danger. More of them are willing to actually warn us of their approach (at quite fast speeds) by ringing a bell. I am glad as if I stepped into the path of such a cyclist going say at 15 mph I would definitely come off worse. Messy.