A Taxing Time

What would be an appropriate photo for this time of year, as we wrestle with our tax returns, knowing that the Income Tax People know more about our income than we do anyway, or certainly more than I do. Every year another precious forest  has to be felled - well a virtual forest  these days I guess - to tell the Inland Revenue what it already knows.

I wonder if I can find one from our Prague trip of long ago - one that references Kafka?   No, I can't.

I have no problem paying taxes when they are due.  Its just that the paperwork seems so pointless.  They know what, if anything, we owe. Why not just tell us?  And mostly it's already been deducted anyway.

Col and Jim went off a'detecting on Thursday - somewhere in the Outer Planets I am assuming given the time the alarm clock went off.  And my Annual Health Check, set for Friday was cancelled via email at the last minute as the practise nurse was off sick.  I guess they are exposed to everything going in their job, masks not withstanding.

Hopefully I will have it next week. Though I'm not sure I want to know the result.

Winterwatch is back - as fascinating as ever.  The creation is endlessly interesting, and so lovely.

This weekend it is our assembly at Haysbridge, on Saturday, but I will be attending in pixel form, as I am still coughing, sneezing and in a fair amount of arthritic pain. Hopefully it will be a lovely day, either way, with some perfect, loving teaching, in a harsh and imperfect world.

And yet again I find myself thinking of the time and effort, sincere time and effort on the most part I think, that was put in to the intensive religious training we got at our Convent schools.  Yet if only they had taught us what the Bible actually says.  When I did hear - at last  - I did respond to it.

Would I have responded back then?  While I hope so, of course, I can't be sure. But God's inspired word has immense power.

As the apostle Paul wrote: "The word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints and their marrow, and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

God's inspired word has an unequalled power to reach hearts.  And something we read in my faraway schooldays,  as we did read bits of the Gospels regularly, must have touched my heart as I can remember wondering why we weren't kinder to each other, given what we had just read.

I don't remember what verse it was, but for the moment, it did reach my heart.  It took me nearly 30 years to find out why though.