Hello to you all today.  I am sorry I missed the blog yesterday but it was one of my buisiest day so far this Christmastime.  There were cards to make and then write.  Some to post and some to deliver by hand.  Coffee to have with my friend Rita, and put the world to rights of course.  All in all a busy but very fruitful day.  I am still waiting to hear about the Nativity play, I guess it will be tomorrow as Joe and Grace are very wrapped up in their own Christmas social whirl right now.  I hope you all like the graphic.    Some of the images therein are courtsey of aimeeasher.  http://www.aimeeasher.com/  The composition is all mine and I am very pleased with it.

First Nativity Play

This little chap is my  grandson Joseph.  He had his first Nativity Play tonight at school and was a Sheep.  I have not had any feedback yet but no doubt it will have gone very well.  The most important thing about all of it was that Mummy, Daddy and Gracie would be there to see him.  He was so excited when I spoke to him yesterday!

Can't wait to talk to Joe tomorrow and see how he got on.  Love you Joe!

Love Grandma.

Only Love and Respect - A quotation fron Pope Benedict XVI

Our cities are inhabited by "invisible men and women", people who "now and again appear on the front pages or on television screens, and are exploited to the last drop for as long as their news and image attract attention. This is a perverse mechanism which unfortunately we find difficult to resist. The city first hides people them exposes to the public, without pity or with false pity", when the truth is that "each human story is a sacred story and calls for the greatest respect.

The city is made up of us all",  "each of us contributes to its life and its moral climate, for good or for evil. The confine between good and evil passes through each of our hearts". Yet, "the mass media tend to make us feel as if we are spectators, as if evil only concerned others, and that certain things could never happen to us. Whereas we are all 'actors' and, in evil as in good, our behaviour has an effect on others".  People who, "in silence, ... strive to practice the evangelical law of love, which moves the world". They are "men and women of all ages who have understood that condemnation, complaint and recrimination serve no purpose, and that it is more worthwhile to respond to evil with good. This changes things; or rather, it changes people and, as a consequence, improves society.
end of quote taken from the Vatican Newsletter of today.

Oh How I wish we could all respond in the manner described, what a different world it would be.  I say well said Pope Benedict.

Picture courtsey of Scrapgirls.com and is copyright protected.

What will you ask today?

This is a proposition from the writer and philosopher Neale Donald Walsche.

"If you ask an impertinent question, you are on theway to a pertinent answer.

Therefore, never be afraid to ask the question that it seems shouldn't, especially if it has to do with religion or God or spirituality.

 It is when you think you have all the answers that expansion ends, growth stops, and your arrogance begins.

What question do you wish to humbly ask today?"

Very thought provoking I'd say.

Disappointment

I hope you all had a great and happy weekend. 

Today I have been thinking about disappointment.  Usually this is manifested in ones-self as a result of a misplaced trust in another who we feel has let us down.  We could however turn that around and instead of admonishing the other person, or feeling lost and depressed, get some semblance of control over our emotional response.  For that is all it is, an emotional (very chemical reaction) reaction to an unpleasant situation. 

That then leads us to think about 'trust' and what it really is.  As we do not have any control, input or influence (ultimately) over another's thoughts, impulses or actions (as they do not have over ours), then we have to believe that 'trust ' is not something we actually invest in another but is a willingness to give to ones-self.  We often hear the statements "I would trust him/her with my life" or "I wouldn't trust him/her as far as I could throw him/her".  These adages are all about what you would or would not do, not about the other person.  We could amend these statements to something like "I want to allow myself to believe that I am safe with him or her"  or I will avoid giving any of my emotional store to him/her.  I also believe that instinct and intuition could be considered in many situations and we should really listen to them.  I know this is a bit profound but I would appreciate your comments (and patience).

Yes!  I have a big disappointment this weekend but am OK

Above image courtsey of http://www.scrapgirls.com/