A Real November Morning

 

I woke up on this, the last day of the month, to find the real November outside - proper mist - not a sea-fret.  It is a symphony of greys and subdued greens.  I am feeling both Novembery - towards the end of my year - and very grateful for another day of life on this amazing planet.

The picture is from the short walk we took in Houghton Woods on Friday.  It was rather muddy, but I managed forty minutes - which is an improvement.  However...

  "As the doctor said to me when I had my tubes tilted..."   That great line from a Victoria Wood sketch applies at the moment, as problems of that nature keep me in pain and depressed. So I did very little this weekend, though I was at the Zoom field service meeting on Saturday and at the Zoom group afterwards, and got more territory for my letter witnessing.

Sunday morning was the Zoom meeting plus chat rooms afterwards.  The meeting was just starting when Captain Butterfly appeared in the kitchen - or virtual Kingdom Hall - murmuring that he was taking himself off to Pulbrough Brooks and needed a sandwich lunch which he would make for himself.  I tried to signal frantically that he should not appear on my computer screen looking theatrically hard done by as he had to MAKE HIS OWN SANDWICHES because Mrs.Captain B was too busy with her Christian work!  

During the Saturday meeting he was doing the hoovering.  Bless him.   But I have done nothing beyond the meetings - and getting our meals together - I feel terminally tired (for tube-tilting reasons) and just want to sleep and sleep.  

My continuing collapse seems an excellent reason to continue with the Watchtower study article about the resurrection. It will be very comforting to me.

How do those who do not know, or do not accept, God's word cope with this stage of life - or any of it, come to that?   I am so so grateful that those two lovely ladies, Willhelmina and Ruby called on me all those years ago, with their Bibles and their Watchtowers in their hands.

Therefore I hope to be able to report in my next blog that I am back to my letter writing, the only way we can call at the doors at the moment.    And, in case I don't make it as far as the next blog... gulp... here is what I am hoping for.

APPRECIATE JEHOVAH’S LOVE

13. In line with Psalm 139:1-4, how will the resurrection show just how much Jehovah knows about us?

13 As we discussed earlier, when Jehovah resurrects people, he will restore their memories and the personality traits that made them who they were. Just think of what that implies. Jehovah loves you so much that he is keeping track of all that you think, feel, say, and do. So if he had to resurrect you, he would easily be able to restore your memories, attitude, and personality traits. King David was aware of just how interested Jehovah is in each one of us. (Read Psalm 139:1-4.) In what way can understanding how well Jehovah knows us affect us now?

14. In what way should we be affected when meditating on how well Jehovah knows us?

14 When we meditate on how well Jehovah knows us, we should not feel worried. Why not? Remember that Jehovah deeply cares for us. He cherishes the traits that make each one of us unique. He carefully notes the experiences in our life that make us who we are. What a comforting thought! Never should we feel that we are alone. Each minute of every day, Jehovah is right beside us, looking for opportunities to help us.​—2 Chron. 16:9.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2020526#h=64

More Trouble with Haikus

I notice that even real poets - in this case John Cooper Clarke - have trouble with their Haikus, as in his little poem "Haiku":

To-con-vey one's mood

In sev-en-teen syll-able-s

Is ve-ry dif-fic

Yesterday I joined a small Zoom group successfully after the Field Service and we discussed different ways we could write our letters - especially bearing in mind that nowadays so many people believe we evolved.  It was helpful and encouraging and I hope to get a new letter drafted today.   And we, the Captain and his missus, had a 30 minute hobble along the vast sea-emptied beach to the river. And back.  The receding tide leaves a wonderful pattern of pebbles on the sand.  Lots of inspiration for painters and poets.

We also had an outing on Tuesday to the woods.  It was a dank Novembery day, but not nearly as cold as it should be this time of year. All beautiful though, and the log piles were splendid.  There were some vast old trees - and I was thinking, being into the late November of my life, how transient we must seem to those trees - coming and going in our seasons like their leaves.

Our lives on this lovely earth are so short now.  Which does bring me to the next installment of the Watchtower article on the wonderful and sure promise of the resurrection.   And please notice that the time of the resurrection, during the Thousand Years, will be such a joyful one, a time of increasing happiness;  and also note the question at the end of the para. And would you think about it?

12. In what way will all those on earth be blessed by Jehovah?

12 Under Kingdom rule, all of God’s people will experience the truthfulness of what Proverbs 10:22 says: “It is the blessing of Jehovah that makes one rich, and He adds no pain with it.” With Jehovah’s spirit at work on them, God’s people will become spiritually rich, that is, they will become more and more like Christ and will grow toward perfection. (John 13:15-17; Eph. 4:23, 24) Each day they will become stronger, better people. What a joy life will be then! (Job 33:25) How, though, can meditating on the resurrection help you now?

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2020526#h=64

At Day-close in November

We had an outing to the Wetland Trust in Arundel today!  A rare excursion for me now, though it once seemed like a home from home - and, due to the Covid Crisis, we had to book before we went.  I managed to hobble around for half an hour, enjoying it all.  I shall illustrate my blog with some lovely photos Col took from today - and one, the top one, from yesterday during his brief outing to a local woodland.

This blossom (what kind?) by the new Pelican enclosure (no Pelicans as yet) was beautifully scented.  And below is The Hangar in November.

The weekend just flew by. We had the new arrangement after the Saturday field service group so we could all meet up in our separate groups, which worked well.  I have hosted one Zoom meeting so far and hope to do at least one other this week.  I can't say I am really getting to grips with this Whatsappery. Its a bit of a puzzle.  I spoke to Sue from next door today - by phone - and we both agreed that we preferred the phone as a means of communication.  

Here is a Hardy poem I had not come across before -  just right for the time of year.  

At day-close in November

Thomas Hardy

The ten hours’ light is abating,

And a late bird wings across,

Where the pines, like waltzers waiting,

Give their black heads a toss.

Beech leaves, that yellow the noontime,

Float past like specks in the eye;

I set every tree in my June time,

And now they obscure the sky.

And the children who ramble through here

Conceive that there never has been

A time when no tall trees grew here,

That none will in time be seen.

https://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/1430

And I was rather taken with this little notice:

The Sun in its Splendour

The rising sun was reflecting red in all the tidal pools on Friday morning.   So lovely. I thanked Jehovah for it, but also asked him that, one day, I will be able to watch the sun rising over the sea and thank him from a perfect heart.  And I asked on the Captain's behalf too.

It will take the Thousand Years before we can do that.  However, now that I  have reached my three score years and ten (and a bit!), I can see that even a hundred years is not a long time - so ten of them is not really a long time either.  And it will be a busy time - but busy with satisfying work, work that you look forward to and look back on with satisfaction - full of interest and amazement. And then our real lives will begin!

Which seems a good introduction to the next extract from the Watchtower magazine on the resurrection, because I often think about the joy of welcoming back the resurrected dead.

IN WHAT WAYS WILL THE RESURRECTION BRING US JOY?

10. How will the resurrection affect you?

10 Imagine what it will be like to greet your loved ones again. Will the joy you feel make you laugh or cry? Will you fill the air with songs of praise to Jehovah? One thing is certain, you will feel intense love for your caring Father and his unselfish Son because of the wonderful gift of the resurrection.

11. According to Jesus’ words recorded at John 5:28, 29, what will those who live by God’s righteous standards experience?

11 Imagine the joy that those who are resurrected will feel as they strip off their old personality and live according to God’s righteous standards. Those who make these changes will experience a resurrection of life. On the other hand, those who rebel against God will not be allowed to disrupt the peace of Paradise.​—Isa. 65:20; read John 5:28, 29.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2020526#h=64

Doris, the Squirrels, and the Supermarket Delivery

I am in anxiety mode this week as I will be Whatsapping, Whatseverthatis, and also hosting a Zoom conference.  And I am not sleeping too well due to medical issues.  The poor Captain returned from a metal detect - he is allowed on the beach, but no rallies at the moment - to find me rather glum - though I had managed a hot supper for him.

And I spoke to Bea of the North, and to Jean.  We all have medical issues... 

But my part in our letter witness continues - I am writing and posting, hoping to have a part in giving everyone in our territory a witness about the Kingdom of God. And we start an exciting study of the Book of Ezekiel in the midweek meetings this week.  I strongly recommend you try to join your local congregation in Zoom, or by phone, and listen in.  So there is lots to look forward to.

And this from my sister's facebook has cheered me up.  Doris is her elderly rescue dog - quite a character in her way - and my sister is a great feeder of the birds (and all the local squirrels). She and Ken were always trying out various devices to slow the squirrels down and give the birds a chance, as were my parents before them.  Its the family tradition - a bit hampered by Rescue Doris, who in "Mad Doberman" mode, sounds like a manic siren on maximum volume.   The siren goes off if she sees a squirrel in the garden or if someone knocks at the door.  So it goes off quite a lot. And it ensures the squirrels are in no danger no matter how fearsome she looks as she chases them - the siren sounds its warning of her coming well in advance: SQUIRREL SQUIRREL SQUIRREL OPEN THE DOOR LET ME AT IT!!!!!   

My sister, aka Doris's Person, writes:

"Got up this morning and came through to the front of the house to make breakfast. Looked out of the window - large squirrel sitting in the colanders I hang under the squirrel-proof bird-feeders to catch the seed the birds scatter all over the ground which attracts the rats. it sounds complicated but it works.

Or it does until the squirrels manage to climb the pole. I coat it with vaseline to slow the little beggars down, but in the cold weather, the vaseline can get quite sticky, thus making the pole climbable.

Went inside and collected methylated spirits to wipe the old vaseline off the pole and large tub of new vaseline to re-coat it. I left the front door open and went to work. I'd just wiped the pole clean and was about to apply new vaseline when Doris hove into view, just out of bed, metaphorical slippers on wrong feet, metaphorical fag hanging out of mouth, metaphorical curlers hanging in her eyes. 'Come on out, sweetie,' I carolled, 'I've got a treat for you.'

There was a diffident cough from behind me. I tripped on the base of the bird feeder and grabbed the greasy pole to stay upright. It was the Waitrose delivery man, trying hard not to meet my eye, but there was no getting away from it, I was out there, staggering around, inviting some unknown sweetie to join me, with an almost empty bottle of meths in one hand and large jar of lube in the other. 'No subsitutes this week.,' he said, a bit pointedly, I thought. 'Shall I put it in the porch?'

I toyed with 'I know this looks a bit odd,' and 'There's actually a perfectly reasonable explanation,' but decided the best thing I could do was cut my losses. 'Yes,' I said. 'Thanks.'"

It didn't help that Doris decided to do her Mad Doberman impersonation as he unloaded his stuff. We parted with bright, social smiles.

And I'd forgotten to update the order and have taken delivery of six bottles of cava. Oh well, that's the menus sorted for this week.

A Handful of Acorns

This week I have to both Whatsapp, and host a Zoom meeting, which is an anxious business for me.  Will I ever feel confident or competent with these things?   The Sunday meeting yesterday was such a comfort - the teaching just gets better and better.  It seemed as if it was a busy weekend, yet I spent a fair amount of it lying on the sofa watching the telly.  The pain eases when I lie down, thank God.   During the arthritis flare-ups there is no escape from it, no position that helps.  

I spoke to Bea of the North and to Jean - by phone obviously, we are all in Lockdown, and Jean and I are back in extra severe lockdown.   

Anyway, I think I need to look ahead to the wonderful Day of Judgement - the thousand years during which the whole earth will become the peaceful paradise it was always meant to be, and obedient mankind will be restored to the life and perfection our first parents so tragically threw away.

The dead will not be forgotten at that time. Jehovah will not wake them from the dreamless sleep of death into a chaotic and violent earth, but into a peaceful and loving one, which will be under the heavenly rule of the Kingdom of God.  And they will be woken up to a completely fresh start.  Famously, the Bible tells us that "the wages sin pays is death".   The dead have paid that wage and are acquitted of their sin, their imperfection.  

As Romans 6:7 clearly and simply says:  "For the one who has died has been acquitted from his sin."

How I wish I had known that in my Catholic Convent schooldays, as at that time the Church taught us children that all sorts of horrors and punishments were in store for us after death.   It is a teaching that put me off the whole idea of God and the Bible for many years.

So "many of those asleep in the ground of dust" will wake up in the restored earthly paradise and there they will learn about the Creator, Jehovah. And that brings me to the handful of acorns, because Revelation tells us that Scrolls will be opened at that time.

Revelation 20:12 says: "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. But another scroll was opened; it is the scroll of life. The dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds."

Clearly they will not be judged on what they did before, but on how they respond to the Inspired teaching they receive during the Thousand Years. 

And during that time you could go out with a handful of acorns and watch them grow into a forest of mighty oaks, hundred of years old - and you could coppice it so that there would be many beautiful walks and clearings - many lovely places in which to wake up from the dreamless sleep of death. And maybe among those Scrolls will be information about when my parents are to be woken from the sleep of death - which I so much hope they will be!

I think both of them - IF they are to be resurrected - would love to wake up in a forest clearing.  Or maybe my father woud like to wake up in the beautiful lupin fields he remembered from his Polish childhood.  Maybe I will be able to go out to a lovely meadow with a handful of lupin seeds... IF I am there that is.   Anyway, Jehovah knows what the exact right spot would be for everyone, as he reads every heart. and I can safely leave it to Him.

Which does bring me to the next bit of the Resurrection Watchtower article:

9. Why will resurrected ones not come back with a perfect mind and body?

9 Jehovah promises that no one living under Christ’s rule will say: “I am sick.” (Isa. 33:24; Rom. 6:7) Thus, those who are raised from the dead will be re-created with healthy bodies. However, they will not immediately be perfect. If they were, they might seem unfamiliar to their loved ones. It seems that all mankind will gradually grow to perfection during the Thousand Year Reign of Christ. It is only at the end of the thousand years that Jesus will hand the Kingdom back to his Father. Then the Kingdom will have accomplished its work completely, including the raising of mankind to a perfect state.​—1 Cor. 15:24-28; Rev. 20:1-3.

Hosting My First Zoom Meeting

My project for Thursday was to host a Zoom meeting - with me and one other.  We will see if it works out.  Into my spaceship and onwards!

 It did but only after a lot of help... a lot of coaching... and there were 4 of us - but whether I can manage to remember how to host a Zoom meeting a second time is something else altogether.  

But I must carry on witnessing. I was reminded of a recent experience about a gentleman who turned up at a Kingdom Hall - closed of course for the duration of this crisis - with a bunch of flowers.  A brother and sister driving past stopped to see if they could help and he told them he had received a lovely letter from one of their congregation - a letter that had come just at the right time as he was in a dangerous depression. He had bought the flowers to say thanks. 

So I have done 5 more letters.  5 envelopes seems to be the limits of my strength at the moment. Which is pretty pathetic.

And the Captain took me out for a short drive yesterday.  The outside world... how busy it all is, and how glad I was to be back home.   The Autumn colours were lovely though.

I am continuing the Watchtower study article about the resurrection below.  We will know the awakened dead, and they will know us - even though we will all be looking a lot better and a lot healthier than we are now.  Revelation tells us that during the Thousand years "scrolls" will be opened - there will be more Inspired teaching, from Jehovah, through Jesus.  So what I wonder is if we have the privilege of being there, will we be able to look and see who is going to be resurrected when.  I have this idea of planting an oak forest, but hope to get back to that in my next blog.

WILL WE BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THOSE WHO ARE RESURRECTED?

8. Why is it reasonable to assume that those greeting resurrected individuals will be able to recognize their loved ones?

8 For a number of reasons, we can assume that those greeting resurrected individuals will be able to recognize their loved ones. For instance, based on resurrections that have already occurred, it seems that Jehovah will re-create people so that they look, speak, and think in the same way as they did shortly before they died. Remember that Jesus likened death to sleep and the resurrection to being awakened from sleep. (Matt. 9:18, 24; John 11:11-13) When people awaken from sleep, they look and sound the same as when they went to sleep, and they retain their memory. Consider the example of Lazarus. He had been dead for four days, so his body had begun to decay. Yet, when Jesus resurrected him, his sisters immediately recognized him, and Lazarus obviously remembered them.​—John 11:38-44; 12:1, 2.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2020526#h=64

A Present from Betelgeuse - the Final final Proof Read

 Yesterday, I did the final final check of my second thriller, the book that will not be called A Present from Betelgeuse.  This was apparently a final proof read, but I still found a couple of other things that needed changing. And I hope they can be at this late stage. I had made two consecutive days Saturday for example.  I wrote this book in an inside out and upside down manner - one that I will never attempt again. But it wasn't deliberate, it wasn't some idiotic attempt at a literary device,  it just seemed to happen that way. Anyway, it must stand or fall as it is now.

I am looking forward to seeing the cover. This will be my fourth publication with Fantastic Books and I can say that they do what they say on the tin as they have given me Fantastic covers!

I sent a copy of my talk to Jean, who missed it, due to phone trouble, sent off my next batch of witnessing letters - posted by the Captain himself - and got some more territory which I must start on today.  I feel a bit guilty about devoting yesterday afternoon to my book. The world does not especially need any more fiction, but it desperately needs the good news of the Kingdom. Desperately.

Oh and in a moment of ironic terror this morning, I briefly choked on one of my vitamin tablets!  What a truly ridiculous way that would be to go.

Life is so uncertain at the moment.   How much we all need the hope of the resurrection.   And I hope so much I will see my parents then. So here is the next extract from that comforting study article.  It reminds that we will all be learning together, helping each other, in loving circumstances so that by the end of the Thousand years we will be as perfect and living as our first parents were before they disobeyed and we will be living in paradise, as they were.

And then... who knows what wonderful things.  But if we all take in the knowledge of Jehovah now and do our imperfect best to act on it, we can be there to find out.

7. Why will God’s people have fellow feeling when teaching resurrected ones?

7 During the Thousand Year Rule of Christ, all of Jehovah’s earthly children will have to make changes to please him. So all of them will have true fellow feeling as they help the resurrected ones to combat sinful tendencies and to live by Jehovah’s standards. (1 Pet. 3:8) No doubt those who come back to life will be drawn to Jehovah’s humble people, who will also be “working out [their] own salvation.”​—Phil. 2:12.

The Marvel

This wonderful  - and well-named - moth, the Merveille du Jour, has been turning up on our balcony.

I am having computer problems at the moment - and I had to turn up to Thursday morning's field service fashionably late on the Captain's computer.  I was also alarmingly and fashionably gender-neutral as I appeared as "Colin Knight".  Thankfully, my Resident Computer Expert fixed it before the meeting in the evening as I had a part in the School.

Lots of calls and deliveries Thursday and because Captain B was not metal-detecting due to the current Lockdown, we both got confused about whch day of the week it was, and which delivery to expect.  I had a long chat with Lilian, ex-Planet Expat. 

I notice just how divisive politics is as the current elections, still not wholly decided by Thursday evening, show an America as divided as the Brexit/Bremain vote showed the UK to be.  And so half of the country is going to be deeply upset by the result, and probably whichever side loses, there will be some justification in complaining about the way the voting is run.

A nightmare. And I am more glad than ever that Jehovah, the true God, keeps these divisions out of his congregation family.

If - IF - Captain Butterfly has the time and patience to show me how, I may finally be joining you all in the 21st Century by becoming a Whatsapper.   He spent yesterday making his famous chutney - we used to be able to pick fresh dates to go in it in our Expat years - and we also have his calendar pics to sort out, if he is doing a 2021 calendar - plus I need some more address labels - I always have one of his current butterfly photos on it - and, well, its amazing how much there is to do, even in retirement, even in lockdown.

It is now Friday and I see that the Democrats have won.  But only just.  So one half of America is now deeply distrustful of the other half.   My part in the Ministry School last night was about the heavenly government, the Kingdom of God, the one which really can solve all our problems - the one which is already doing amazing and wonderful - merveilleuse! things on the earth.  Think of the wisdom, the skill, the artistry and the love that went into making even that one moth in the picture above, and have confidence.  

And in harmony with that, here is the next extract from the Watchtower study article about the Resurrection.  The Day of Judgement, the thousand year reign of Jesus and the holy ones, will be a time of teaching, a time of learning, a time of great and increasing happiness.  Those of us in Jehovah's congregation already knows how gently, lovingly and patiently He teaches us.

6. According to Acts 24:15, who will be among those resurrected by Jehovah?

6 Most important of all, those who survive Armageddon will need to teach resurrected ones about God’s Kingdom and about Jehovah’s requirements. Why? Because the majority of those who return to life will be among “the unrighteous.” (Read Acts 24:15.) They will have to make many changes in order to benefit from Christ’s ransom. Just think of the work involved in teaching the truth about God to millions of people who have no knowledge of Jehovah. Will each person receive individual instruction, similar to the way we conduct Bible studies today? Will these new ones be assigned to congregations and be trained to teach those who are resurrected after them? We will have to wait and see. We do know, however, that by the end of Christ’s Thousand Year Reign, “the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah.” (Isa. 11:9) What a busy but enjoyable thousand years that will be!

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2020526#h=64

Hey, Ho, the Wind and the Rain

 For the Rain It Raineth Every Day

William Shakespeare

When that I was and a little tiny boy,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

A foolish thing was but a toy,

For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man's estate,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,

For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

By swaggering could I never thrive,

For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

But that's all one, our play is done,

And we'll strive to please you every day.

From Twelfth Night, Act V, scene 1

https://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/2356

This song/poem has always filled me with the kind of sadness that Autumn does.  Not too sad a sadness, if that makes any sense.  A beautiful sadness?  And it speaks of the sadness that belongs to the world, the sadness Janet Frame describes feeling from when she was a tiny child.  I first read this poem in our Children's Treasure House books when I was very young, and I seem to remember a picture of Feste (whose song it is), his back to us, disappearing into the blue yonder.  The words really got to me, and still do.

It has been a stormy start to November - with wonderful waves on The Channel.  Penny reports the garden at the farm is covered with apples after the night's storm - even though they have been picking non-stop and every corner cupboard is crammed with apples and apple products.

Another Lockdown is imminent and Captain Treasure Hunter is hoping he might get one more detecting session in before it comes into force on Thursday.  He had a rainy weekend out there in the field this weekend- which did not (on either day) turn out to be the field in which King Canute lost his gold doubloon filled treasure chest - if doubloons had been invented back then, and if he happened to lose a chest full of them in a local field.  

Maybe next time...   in the meantime a giant batch of Butterfly memberships has murmurated its way to me, so that will keep me busy for a while.

Here is the next extract from the Watchtower study article about the resurrection. 

HOW WILL THE RESURRECTION LIKELY TAKE PLACE?

5. Why is it reasonable to believe that people will be resurrected in an orderly, gradual manner?

5 When Jehovah through his Son resurrects countless millions, we may assume that not all of them will come back to life at the same time. Why not? Because an explosion in the earth’s population would likely cause chaos. And Jehovah never does anything in a disorganized, chaotic way. He knows that for peace to last, order must be maintained. (1 Cor. 14:33) Jehovah God was wise and patient when he worked with Jesus to prepare the earth in a gradual manner before creating mankind. In turn, Jesus will display those same qualities during the Thousand Year Reign when he works with Armageddon survivors as they prepare the earth to receive resurrected ones.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2020526#h=64