However all is well. And we even managed a call after. A lovely lady, one of Jean's calls. We wanted to follow up on her interest in something in the current magazine. I placed it with her while Jean was away, and I pointed her to the back page which speaks of the resurrection. And I asked her if she knew that the Bible says that the hope for most of us is to be resurrected right here on the earth.
And I reminded her that Jesus (famously) said that the meek would inherit "the earth". She seemed quite surprised by that, and said she would certainly read the magazine. So we hope that she might look into this a bit more.
It is very very important.
Then I shopped, got lunch for the Captain who is glued to the telly at the moment - rugby and athletics.. Then it was off to the wedding at the Kingdom Hall, beautifully conducted by one of the brothers. It was quiet and simple, yet full of emotion. No mather how much "the world" tries to denigrate and downgrade marriage, its sacred nature still shines though.
The bride wore a lovely hat - the sort that is called, or used to be called, a fascinator. I am not into hats, but I love those. It looked really good on her. So pretty and elegant.
Jacks came for supper Saturday evening. Captain B bought her a colourful bunch of Autumn flowers to cheer her up and I made a big pan full of Indian vegetable stir fry - cabbage, carrots and coriander, with chile and black mustard seeds. It is a Madhur Jaffery recipe I have been making for years. Its good hot and cold. And we had a chicken curry - courtesy of Cook's - to go with it, along with rice and pickles; and the usual ice-cream for pudding. We are all into choc ices at the moment. With a vengeance. Yet I guess they are not very diabetes compatible...
The meeting at the Kingdom Hall this morning was so helpful. We were reminded, for example, to look ahead to what John Milton called "Paradise regained" (in his epic poem). And Paul's example is so helpful. He wrote honestly about his struggles. And we were reminded to trust in the ransom sacrifice and not look back to past mistakes and waste a lot of time and energy in guilt and regrets.
So comforting.
We were also reminded not to look back at what we had left behind in "the world". Paul had the 1st century equivalent of an Oxbridge education, and a great career would have been open to him within the Jewish political and religious establishment of the day, but he considered it to be nothing compared to the happiness that was set before him.
"Yet, the things that were gains to me, I have considered loss on account of the Christ. What is more, I do indeed also consider all things to be loss on account of the excelling value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have taken the loss of all things and I consider them as a lot of refuse, that I may gain Christ." - Philippians 3:7,8
His hope was for the heavenly resurrection, as he was one of the 144,000 who are taken from the earth to be part of the Kingdom of God. But the hope for most of us is to live forever in the restored earthly paradise, safe under that Kingdom's loving rule.
And had I had a glittering career... not very likely admittedly, given I was the lady who looked after the Boarders at the Kennel Club and tried to make sure that every pet in our little expat town had its rabies shots. But if I had had fame, fortune, money, all the rest of it, I would now be sitting here, in my Seventies, my life nearly over, wondering what on earth it had all been for.
But when you serve Jehovah you see a wonderful future. Paul understood that, and his letters can help us to understand that now.
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