Category Archives: Holiday

Lingering at the End of our Holiday

At the end of a holiday is the time I love to linger and not want the day to end. Tomorrow it is back to reality, work and the challenges of life.
I met three of my four daughters at the weekend after their holiday in the sun. One of my daughters and her husband had booked to go on holiday but the company grew to five.  All of them work long hours and they badly needed a break.
There was not as much sun as they had hoped.  But they had plenty of sleep, wine, good food, and fun hanging out together.  They all seemed to me different after a week away; youthful looking, relaxed, joyful, peaceful.  They seemed aglow, transformed after their holiday.
I had been praying for them that God would make His Face, His Son, to shine on them after they called me to tell me there was no sun!  I know it is God’s will for our bodies to be refreshed.  Jesus took his disciples aside for meals and times to talk alone.  The Jews had festivals during their year when the people gathered together for times to relax and eat.  It is a need of the human condition.
This is exactly why I have always said ” A holiday is not a luxury but a necessity.”  Even though we are a big family we always made a point of going on holiday each summer.  It is time to chill, laugh, swim, make a barbecue etc.
So the time I remember lingering was on holiday the evening before we were due to travel home.  Back to work and cold weather.
The evening sun was going down behind the hill in the west.  The beach was empty.  The sun beds no longer held relaxed bodies.  Their work of healing was over for the day.  The bleached white sun umbrellas flapped in the gathering evening breeze.

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Brendan and I had just finished our meal in the beach cafe.  It was of fresh fish.  The abundance of the sea shall be added unto thee.  We were finishing the wine and reminiscing.  Totally relaxed now compared to irritating moments we had together at the beginning of our holiday.
We wanted this moment to last.  We lingered till the sun went down behind the hill and the chilly air blew in from the sea.
This article was inspired from Daily prompt
 

Do you Believe you will ever write a Book

Some years ago I was travelling home from America.  My family had send me on a holiday for my birthday.  I was sitting beside a lady who was writing on a small computer.  She was making notes for a book she was writing.  I was returning home to a houseful of children to be reared and there would certainly be no time for writing.  Have you watched the film “Cheaper by the dozen?”  The mother of the children wrote a book!  I wondered if I would ever write a book.  The only writing I was doing was jotting down notes about my daily readings from the bible.  My husband called them “My Rewrites.”  He teased me saying “Are you going to rewrite the bible.”
Ten years on, I was on my way home from Canada to Ireland.  What was I doing?  I was writing notes for my blog.  I would never have dreamed that I would be doing this.  With the quick advancement of technology over these last years one does not have to make reams of notes in books with a pen.  I can do much writing on my i Pad.  One can e mail, send pictures, take pictures, blog, all with the press of a button.  Brendan bought it for me on my last birthday.  As I sit to write, memories come flooding back to me.  The Holy Spirit brings things to mind.
I have resisted writing before.  I resisted thinking back to the past.  I did not have good memories.  I resisted writing letters to anyone because I wanted only to write if I had some good news to tell.  I did not have the peace, confidence or courage before.  God promises he will make a way when there is no way.
 I have resisted anyone loving me.  I have resisted showing love.  I was embarrassed at first when I visited Canada.  Waitresses in the cafes were friendly and smiling.  People talked about having fun.  A husband would call his wife honey.  A wife would call her husband sweetie.  I was embarrassed.  I have never called my husband sweetie in my life.
Maybe the Irish are too numb from pain to express genuine love.  It can be embarrassing to hug someone you don’t know.  We can be sharp to tear someone down with our tongues.  I want to speak kindly and be pleasant to others.  Very often we don’t say anything and retreat into silence because of fear of being rediculled or someone retorting in anger because they don’t agree with your opinion.
There is a saying that goes if you can’t say anything good don’t say anything at all.  Perhaps trust is broken and one cannot be open again.  One puts up the defences to protect ones heart from wounding.
But God has healed my heart and mind of past traumas.  “Perfect love casts out fear.”  I can now look back and remember the good.  A friend has come back into my life this last week.  As we talked she remembered good times when we met together with our children.  More restoration and healing for me.
There is a Psalm that describes how I feel.
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. (Psalm 126:1-6 NIV)

No Debit Card in Greece

Posted in Holiday, My thoughts by

This week Brendan and I are in Zakynthos, our favourite Greek island. Brendan only has a debit card. The day before we left Ireland I canceled this card and ordered a new one. This new card in now in our post box back in Ireland two and a half thousand miles away. To say Brendan was unhappy when he found out is a bit of an understatement. We are budgeting whatever cash we brought.

We arrived last evening. It was a cool, had been raining, was very windy and the sea was stormy. Many hotels are closed as it is near the end of the season. Brendan was wondering if his favourite restaurant was open. Would there be any days in the sunshine? We sat out on the veranda and looked up at the bright full moon. I reassured Brendan that God is our shepherd and he promises to lead us beside still waters and green pastures to restore our souls, Psalm 23.

It is good to be back here. I am expecting to be rested, despite the jet lag. I have mentioned before that God intends for us to have times of feasting. Scripture says I would have fainted if I failed to see the goodness of God in the land of the living.

Sure enough this morning the wind stopped, the sea stilled, the sun shone, we sunbathed and ate at our favourite beach restaurant!

Zakynthos is a place we visited nineteen years ago this month. We met our good friend then. She remembers the exact date that Brendan baptised her.

We have been back to the island about twenty times. It has proven to be a place where we get rest, healing, sunshine, good food, and renew fellowship with our friend and our other good friend a Greek Orthodox nun.

Brendan brought me here just after I was diagnosed with cancer. I did not want to go anywhere after getting the news, but God strengthened me. Instead of being in hospital I was on holiday!

My body clock is still working on Irish time so I am wide awake. I have time to reflect on God’s goodness and faithfulness. We are here for fourteen days so Brendan suggested I write a little about each child on each day we are here. He promised to help me.

Shann is my first born, my beautiful, blond, curly-haired girl. Brendan and I used to talk in the night what the name of our first born baby would be. He used to say “This is a special child that has brought us together.” We rehearsed all the names we knew. Then one night I said “A cousin of mine is called Shann.” Brendan said “That’s the name if this child is a girl.”

Shann is a leader and a hard worker. I didn’t realise she was going to be the first of so many. She was an enormous help with her siblings, quietly working away without complaint. She may have found it hard at times but never showed it.

Shann now looks after her husband and four children. When Shann was expecting our first grandchild Brendan had a dream. In the dream he saw a blond haired boy. Jean Luc was born soon after.

All that training years ago did not go to waste. Shann is a great encourager and has a ministry of helps. She built up her local play group when her children were pre school age. He helps her neighbours and now works full time as a Community Nurse. People are always glad to see Shann arrive at their door. Well done Shann.

Brendan and I are proud of you.

REST

Posted in Holiday, My thoughts by

 

At seven in the morning it is dark here in my home town of Downpatrick, Co Down, Ireland.   As I look out my window I see the main road wind its way out into the distance.  During the week day mornings there is a constant flow of pairs of red lights, cars with people on their way to work in Belfast.  Later there is a flow  of buses and cars into town with school children.  Downpatrick is a hub for education.  We have great primary and grammar schools here, a good place to rear children.

The road is quiet this morning.  I hear the church bells ringing.  A call to prayer.  What a wonderful Christian  heritage we have here in Ireland.  Despite the war,  people still pray.  The bells were silent for a time recently.  I missed them.  I enquired and was reassured the bells would be ringing again.  The  bells ring down through the centuries.   Everyone hears the bells, whether one is Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslem, Chinese, male, female, child or pensioner.  It  is a beautiful sound, memories of home,  neighbours and security.

All is at rest in this small town today.

IF I WERE A BLACKBIRD

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I have a big garden, hedgerows at the front and trees at the back. In the spring it becomes a hive of activity. Blackbirds, starlings and sparrows are busy overturning autumns leaves looking for insects.  They are getting strengthened for the busy time ahead, building nests and rearing young.

One year there were so many blackbirds nesting in the hedgerows, that I wanted to call our house, “Blackbird Cottage.”  It is a joy to hear them sing from early morning in May, when they are flitting to and fro feeding their young.  Sometimes their tones are raised when there is danger about in the form of our cat.

Today I missed the birdsong and all the activity of the birds in our garden.  I wondered, “Where do the birds go for the summer?”  I checked this question out on the Internet and the RSPB website gave the following information.  I quote.

“Firstly, for many birds we are coming to the end of a hectic breeding season.  After all of the battling for territory, courting mates, finding nesting material, gathering food for young and chasing off predators, it is no surprise that some of the birds are looking a little worse for wear.  Late summer is the time to moult all of the worn and damaged feathers to be replaced with a shiny new set that will keep the birds well insulated through the cold winter months.

During the moult, which takes a number of weeks, birds change their ways, becoming quiet and reclusive.  They don’t want to expose themselves to predators whilst they do not have a full set of flight feathers which would make them much more vulnerable.  They will still be around but skulking under hedges.  Also many birds depart to the wider countryside to feast on the seasonal peak of seeds and fruits.”

I mused.  That is exactly how I feel at the end of the summer.  I have been busy with rearing my children, when they are off school or university and there is more work for me to do.  We all stay up later because of the longer evenings, more outings for walks and definitely more cooking and shopping.  My feathers are definitely easily ruffled.  I have bags under my eyes, my nails are brittle, my hair is grey and my skin dry, my legs and arms are weak. If only I could fly away to some resting place like the birds where there is an abundance of fruit and food.

Psalm 55 v 6 says “Oh that I had the wings of a dove!  I would fly away and be at rest.  I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.”  Even the birds hide and rest.  God sees our distress, whether it is tiredness, mental anguish, worry about money or concern for a family or whatever trouble comes our way.

Jesus said to take the birds of the air as our example.  Matthew 6 v 26 says,

“ Look at the birds!  They don’t worry about what to eat—they don’t need to sow or reap or store up food—for your heavenly Father feeds them.  And you are far more valuable to him than they are. 27 Will all your worries add a single moment to your life?”

Another comment on the RSPB was from a visitor.  He said  “Robins spend summer on the French Riviera: a popular spot is Juan-les-Pins.  Starlings flock to Brighton for the world famous murmuration festival, while blackbirds fly off to their second nests, usually in Cornwall.”

I laughed.  Birds of a feather flock together.  Starlings often gather together in flight and do acrobatics in the sky.  They dance and twirl to have fun.  It is good to meet up with friends of like minds and hang out for a while.  We are going to a gathering of friends at the end of September.

Some people are rich enough to have second homes in the sun.  We don’t have a second home but we are off to Greece soon.  Psalm 104 v 15 says, “God gives man wine to make him glad, and olive oil as lotion for his skin, and bread to give him strength.”  I will get my heart strengthened, body rested and sunshine to warm my bones.  We are learning from the birds.

Chow

Angela

Bible quotes from the Living Bible