The School

 

Me at school - Notre Dame - many years ago. I am end middle row, left as you look at it.  One of the girls beside me died some years ago, the other has lived in NZ for many years.

I had a part in the Ministry School on Thursday, which prompted the heading and photo for this blog. And how kindly, gently and patiently Jehovah teaches us.  So different from one's schooldays, which I hated with a passion.  Though I suppose they did their best with the massive classes of the post war babyboom.

This has been a difficult week - for me, in my state, now.  I have managed to get to our Bible student to conduct the study. We get such a lovely warm welcome from the hospitable Lady of the Flowers. Then I had a part in the meeting at the Hall last night, and after praying and the help of my gallant valet and chauffeur Captain B I was there in person not pixel. The script is below.

And then - aarrgghh - I had two medical appointments today.  The first a blood test in the morning - complicated these days by the condition of my skin, but accomplished without - so far! -  a massive bruise. Then a scan - bonescan - in the afternoon.

It meant a long drive through holiday traffic - poor old Col. But we did it. And he says we can get fish and chips for supper- a rare treat.

Here is the script for Thursday. I had a wonderful Householder which helped.  You will see that I have featured my medical woes.

Brief:

4. Starting a Conversation

(4 min.) INFORMAL WITNESSING. Find a natural way to let the person know that you are one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. (lmd lesson 2 point 4)

4. Be patient. Do not feel that you must introduce a Bible truth immediately. Wait for the right opportunity so that you can bring it up naturally. Sometimes, this may mean waiting until the next conversation you have with the person.

Setting: In Waitrose, having coffee

HH:  Do you mind if I join you - I think this is the only chair left.

Sue:  Of course.  It’s always busy in the Waitrose cafe isn’t it?

HH;  Yes.  We usually come here for a coffee after our Tuesday shop. But it does seem extra busy today.  I won’t be long anyway. I am just waiting for my husband. He had a dental appointment this morning, so he dropped me off here to get the shopping done.  We then have to rush off for a hospital appointment in Worthing, for a scan.

Sue:  Oh dear you are having a medical day of it! I do sympathise, sometimes life seems to be nothing but one medical appointment after another.  Anyway, I do hope this scan will put your mind at rest

HH:  Thanks, but it is all so stressful.  And it’s a worry too what is happening with the health service.  I have had to wait ages for this scan and they have already cancelled on me once.   We are hoping that this new Prime Minister might be able to improve things. 

Sue:  I am sure he will do his best.  But it’s not easy, the Health Service is an immense machine with immense demands being made on it and I don’t know that one person, one government, can really cope with it, no matter how good their intentions.

HH;  That is a point.  It’s like this climate change we seem to be going through.  Which is getting frightening now, but somehow governments seem powerless to sort things out.

Sue:  Yes, these fires in France and Spain are terrifying. What is really needed I have come to realise is what they call a one world government, one that could tackle the problems of the whole human family, in a properly organised way.

HH:  Well, I do understand why you say that. But I must admit the thought of any government having that kind of power is a scary one.

Sue: I couldn’t agree with you more.  We have already seen what some governments, some rulers have done with the limited power they have - the suffering, the millions dead.  But I wasn’t thinking of a human government, I was thinking of something else.  Can I ask you, have you ever said the Lord’s Prayer?

HH:  (surprised).  The Lord’s Prayer.  Well, yes, we used to say it every day in school assemblies. And of course at church when we used to go with my parents.

Sue:  Yes, I too said it many times, in my schooldays. Do you remember how it began?

HH:  For sure:  Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come.

Sue:  Yes.  But have you ever thought about what we were praying for when we asked for God’s Kingdom to come?

HH:   Now that you ask, no, I never thought about it.

Sue:  Neither had I for so many years. It wasn’t until two Jehovah’s Witnesses called at my door one day and asked me the same question that I began to wonder. And I found out what we were praying for is for a government that CAN put things right on the earth, the heavenly one.  And I would love to show you a verse from the Bible explaining that which was shown to me.  But is that your husband approaching, waving rather urgently at us?

HH:  Oh yes, I must be off. But, listen, what you just said is so interesting, I would love to hear more.

Sue: Could we meet up here next Tuesday at this time, after we have done our shopping,  have a coffee and maybe I could show you and your husband the Bible verse I mentioned?

HH:  Yes, I’m quite intrigued by this.

Sue: Could we have a quick exchange of phone numbers before you go, just in case either of us can’t make it.  I’m Sue by the way.

HH;  Yes. Good idea. And I’m HH.

Sue. Look forward to seeing you next week, HH.   And I do hope the scan goes well.                                                          

Canary Shoulders

This is a recent visitor to our balcony - a Canary-shouldered Thorn moth.

Given the number of moths on our balcony, I would say it is a good moth year. And we are apparently heading back into the heatwave. I hope we will get some rain beforehand though. It is already beginning to look like Autumn as the trees are having to shed their leaves. There are fearsome fires in France and Spain.

How clear it is that we need a worldwide government that can perfectly control the weather. Which brings me right back to the Kingdom of God, the heavenly government, with Jesus at its head.  Remember when he calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and his followers said:  "What sort of person is this?  Even the winds and the sea obey him."

Isn't that the ruler we need?

Saturday morning there were loads of micro-moths all over the Moth Hotel and our balcony walls. Though it still hasn't reached the stage some years ago when it seems the whole of the wall under the balcony light was awash with Moth, it is a year of moth-abundance.

I wish I could manage a poem, or at least a verse, to celebrate.  In fact, here goes:

Our moth hotel has room for all/and room for campers on the wall/weary travellers see our light/and from the sea they find respite/they may seem made of lacy stuff/but, fragile-looking, they are tough.

We spend most evenings out on our balcony at the moment - with a glass of home made wine, Col with his binoculars seeing and reporting on what is out on the English Channel, and me talking about old times.  And wondering how much longer we have to be together.

I am hoping we can be together forever, in the restored earthly paradise.  Not so sure about Captain B - well not if Rachel from Countdown is available.  I have assured him that she is already spoken for, so he has NO chance. 

Zoom's Most Wanted?

 

A photo shot from the family Zoom session on Monday morning.  Oh dear...  though it does include the lovely youngest member of the extended family (on my side).  But what happened to the rest of us once young siblings?!

I am thinking of the ending of a Thomas Hardy poem:  

A ghost-girl-rider. And though, toil-tried,
            He withers daily,
            Time touches her not,
            But she still rides gaily
            In his rapt thought
            On that shagged and shaly
            Atlantic spot,
            And as when first eyed
Draws rein and sings to the swing of the tide.

https://poets.org/poem/phantom-horsewoman

After his wife, Emma, died, the past- their courting days in Cornwall, came back to Hardy vividly, and he wrote so movingly about them. It is the line about withering daily that is resonating with me at the moment.

We saw my Bible student on Wednesday. Col was out detecting with the lads in a distant Field on Thursday - found nothing himself, but 4 gold items were found. And I pulled myself together a bit - the pain has somewhat abated, got a load of washing done, did my studying for the evening meeting, and (I had hoped) made an apple crumble.

However, not only am I breaking down, but now our oven has - the crumble warmish but uncooked after nearly an hour... and my shower no longer works and is having to be replaced. What next?!

I guess our flat and its appliances must be a good thirty years old by now.

On the doubleplusgood side (an acknowledgement of the Orwellian world we find ourselves living in)... well, I was interrupted and my train of thought has vanished.

Oh yes, it was the new study we began on Thursday night, from the book "Walk Courageously With God", which you can find on JW.org, in the library.  It is full of examples of the courageous faithful men and women of old, as recorded in the Inspired Scriptures, and is really going to make us think about how Jehovah supported them and how we can emulate them IF we rely on Jehovah's support.

And for someone like myself, who has a backbone of solid custard, Jehovah's support is all I can rely on, and I know I can get through anything IF I rely on him.  The year long study of these Biblical examples is going to help all of us so much.

Though I must also add how grateful I am for Captain Butterfly's constant support, and for always making me laugh.  You have a lot of running jokes when you have been married a long time.  And that is also something I must thank Jehovah for too, as He is the originator of the marriage arrangement.  And He also teaches us how to have a happy marriage, a loving partnership.

And what a precious thing that is.

Pippa's Song

Pippa's Song  by Robert Browning

And the day’s at the morn,
Morning‘s at seven;
The hillside’s dew-pearled
The lark‘s on the wing
The snail’s on the thorn;
God is in His heaven
All’s right with the world.

This always brings tears to my eyes.  Pippa passes through the corrupted world, the spoilt paradise, singing, her song reminding us of what we have lost and of the paradise earth to come - because Jehovah IS in his heaven, and He WILL put all right with the world. That is the wonderful reassuring message of the Bible - from Paradise lost, to Paradise regained.

Will the poet, his wife Elizabeth Barrett, and their son Pen wake from the dreamless sleep of death one day to find that truly all is right with the world?  I hope so.

In the meantime, we had a nice day with family on Saturday.  The little one, 3 years old, spent a lot of time on the balcony, drawing - and also had a good time on the beach and in the playground.  She added some treasures to her pebble and shell collection too.  

I have known Linda, Evie's gran, since she was a little girl herself, when Col and I first began a'courting. And now she is a grandma of three lovely girls with another one imminent.

The strangeness of time passing...

The flowers were a pressie from our guests, along with a bottle of wine.

And Pippa's song seems just right for Evie.  A dear little creature, full of the joy of life.  And she said a charming  "Thank you for having me" as she left.  

Apparently she loves being outside.  Which takes me back to my own youth in post WW2 Sheffield, food rationing, bomb sites, and the whole town black with soot from the steel foundries. We played out all the time.  And one of my earliest memories is of being outside in the stone walled back garden of a little friend. It was May and we were playing shop with flowers and petals.  I remember how the white blossom shone against the black paving, and it gave me such a feeling of happiness.

I think of it now as a paradise feeling, just a glimpse of that lovely garden our first parents once lived in so happily.  For sure it was not paradise back then, but there are still glimpses of it everywhere. So can they remind us that it is not gone for good?  If what the Bible promises is true, as I believe, there is more happiness ahead for us, right here on the earth, than we can now imagine.

The Beauty of the Underwing

 

This beautifully designed creature is a Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing.  It checked in and out of our balcony moth hotel a few days ago.

It ought to inspire a wonderful poem, but I don't seem to be up to it any more...  beauty of the underwing/makes my heart sing... There was a young Under of Wing, so lovely it needed no bling...

I can't thank Jehovah for this lovely world from a perfect heart yet, but I hope that both the Captain and I, and all those we love, will be able to one day.

That will be such a moment when and if it comes.

We have family visitors coming at the weekend - a rare thing these days, compared to our first years by the sea when we had family and friends down all summer. So many of them are no longer with us, or no longer able to travel. We were talking about them on the balcony last night.  Our good friends Chuck and Mary - Ralph - Janie - Diane - all the uncles and aunts... and so many others.  Our parents - though only Col's mum ever came here. She used to like coming though and would sit and watch all the goings-on on The Green for ages.

And of course Jackie...  who was so much a part of our retirement.  We can and do visit her in her Home when I am able to travel there - not so often now - but she is a limited version of herself. 

I had to go through my notes from the Convention as we discussed what we had learnt at the meeting on Thursday night.  I did manage to extract a few gems from the scrawl, but overall I think what the Convention left me with was the very comforting thought of how much love and sympathy Jesus - and therefore his father, Jehovah  (as he perfectly reflects his Father's qualities) - feel for us, and how much they want to help us.

And we, the children of Adam, need to feel this love and sympathy for each other.  And help each other.  Not constantly let "the world" and our own imperfections force us in the opposite direction.

My bro and sister-in-law in Germany have just experienced such a tragedy, a close friend, a young friend, has been killed in the war in The Ukraine. She was visiting family.  Such a senseless and cruel waste.  I might write a bit more about it in another blog.

It's not as warm as it was. which is fine by me.  I almost wanted a woolly on when we were out on the balcony last night.   In theory the Big Heat is over for the moment.

In a lot of pain still. And I remember talking sternly to myself when I hit seventy - and how young that seems now - that it was not going to get easier and that I must be grateful for every day. And now, with Eighty looming up in the rear view mirror and about to overtake me, I must cling on to that thought even more

Family visits today.  I am providing a sandwich lunch. Which is why I must now post this and get myself started.  I am hoping for a brief refreshing dip into the Zoom field service first.

A Leopard on our Balcony

There was a young tiger from Jersey
From the Arun, not from the Mersey

On our balcony bed

He rested his head

And for that he was none the worse-y.

Erm... that's it folks.

My previous blog has a photo of our flying tiger from Jersey on it - but I hadn't written the limerick then.   And you, my blog reader, may well feel I have not written it now either!

Today's photo is of the Leopard moth, but its hard to find the rhyme... could he put something in Jeopard-y?

Lots of medical calls on Monday, with medical appointments coming up - two telephone ones, a blood test, and a bone scan - so far.  Made an appointment for Monday as requested - in the afternoon, as our Bible study has been rescheduled to Monday morning.  Appointment confirmed by email. Then another email came through re-scheduling it for the morning, when I will be out. Another email sent, so now, who knows?

When, where, or what

Will my appointment be got.

And if we live in the bleak and pointless world of Darwinian Evolution, WHY will my appointment be got?  What use could someone of my advanced age be, in Darwinian terms?

But, if Genesis tells the true story of us, as I believe, then I am valuable. Every one of us damaged children of disobedient Adam is so precious, has such potential.

Don't we know that, at some very deep level?

The phone call did come.  I think. But unfortunately on my OutSmartMe phone which, as usual, would not let me answer it.  I now have an email telling me to rebook the call...

It was the monthly get together of us Fantastic Book authors on Monday night. Encouraging to know that one of us - Penny step forward please - had just sold out at a local bookshop and actually earned some money. An encouragement to us all.

A Tiger on our Balcony

 

A Jersey Tiger spent the night in our Moth Hotel on Tuesday. And here it is. A truly splendid moth.  

It's been a splendid moth summer so far - they must really like the heat.  And it is hot again, though we did get quite a nice sea breeze on Saturday, which makes all the difference.  Col went to the Detectorist BBQ in the afternoon - taking sausages, drinks and crisps with him.

The days when I would have made something for him to take are now in the past, sadly.  

We have been sitting out on the balcony of an evening with a glass of wine.  Even I have been having wine rather than tea, hoping it might act as a bit of a painkiller.  We hold hands and talk about the past.  It is great to have shared so much with the Captain, but now... well, how much longer do we have?

On the last day of our District Convention - last Sunday - we were learning how to apply lessons from Jesus' illustrations.  And we were reminded that his illustrations were so clear and so simple that they can be understood even today.  Which is an example for us as we try to tell others what the Bible says.

There are plenty of improvements to be made...   For example: "People who love people do well in the preaching work".   That is of course true. But worrying, as that does not describe me.  I am not someone who loves people.  Not that I hate them...  but I am an introvert, somewhat on the spectrum, find interacting with people stressful - and am not doing all that well in the preaching work.   But we were given the example of a brother in Denmark, who also has the same sorts of difficulties.  Like me, he is trying.

So, with Jehovah's help I can hope to improve.  Even at my advanced age.

We were also reminded of the great teaching work to come during the Thousand Years.  Most people will learn about their loving Creator, Jehovah, after he wakes them from the dreamless sleep of death. They will long to hear and to learn then.  It will be such a pleasure and a privilege to be involved in teaching them.  And of course we will all be learning together.  We will never stop learning.

Col is busy checking out the guests from his moth hotel as I finish this blog. They are swirling happily around - exquisite creatures all of them. Once he has them photographed, off they go, to live happily ever after - I hope.