Lent 2014 - 16th April: driving my car

I like driving in my car... I wish it were a Jaguar... Driving my car is normally a pleasure especially if the music is turned up high. I wish I could say this was a photo of my car, alas I can't. Today I spent 3 hours fighting traffic on the M42 and such places. The drive was rather too long for me hence the short post. 

Today's simple pleasure is  driving my car... 

BEEP, BEEP!

Lent 2014 - 15 April: peace and quiet

Today's simple pleasure is peace and quiet. What's that? Absolutely nothing. Bliss.

Lent 2014 - 14th April: social media

Today's simple pleasure is that of social media. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with Facebook and much prefer Twitter. To me Twitter is much more about networking and outward looking compared to Facebook that seems to be so inward looking and navel gazing. I like being able to communicate through social media and connect with people I wouldn't normally see on a day to day basis. The downside of it is that we can fail to give those we live and care about our fully attention because we are endlessly tapping on our tablets, computers or phones. Sorry John. 

I enjoy social media it is a pleasure (*waves) but it will never substitute real life contact. Virtual hugs are OK but they are just not the same as the real thing! 

Lent 2014 - 13th April: history

Today's simple pleasure is history, no literally 'history'. I love history. I can never remember any date but that's almost beside the point. I love the beauty found in National Trust properties and other such places. I would have like to have gone exploring one today given it was such a lovely day but we had a few chores to do. 

My favourite academic subject at school was history, being an all girls friend we never studied the First and Second World Wars in any detail, I wish we had. Instead it was kings and queens and such like. I have a lasting memory of one rather excentric teacher who had us standing on our desks and waving our rules pretending to be Vikings or something. The head teacher came in to tell us off for being rowdy I seem to be recall and then went out again a little embarrassed realizing we had been encouraged in this madness.

We can learn so much from history but it seems the human race still continues to go round in circles making the same old mistakes. I am intrigued by the wisdom that can be gleaned or ignored through studying it. Today's simple pleasure is history maybe it's not your bag and you wonder why I call it a pleasure. We all have a history that makes us who we are some of it good and some of it bad. We can let our own history effect us in a negative manner or we can learn from it and move on. History whether we like it or not is part of who we are. Surely it is better to embrace it and at least find contentment in it than ignore it and stick out head in the sand.

Lent 2014 - 12th April: finding voice

Today's simple pleasure is that of 'finding voice'. Maybe finding our own voice isn't that simple? I think it takes time to find out who you are enough to voice your thoughts and feeling but it shouldn't. It seems we are brought up to conform and do as everyone else does. We are taught to sit quietly with the rest of the class and to learn from the teacher at the front. If we speak out we are told off and learn not to do so. Learning to behave is good but what if that learning to behave means that we loose our uniqueness in the process? I don't really have all the answers and this ramble is, as always, me speaking and thinking out loud. Blogging for me is the simple pleasure in which I am learning to find my own voice. 

Finding voice comes in many forms of self expression. It could be art, or drama, or preaching, or singing, or simply speaking up for ourselves. Finding voice is as much about speaking out for others as it is for speaking out for ourselves. I think most people find the former easier, I know I do. Standing up and speaking out  in whatever form takes courage. It should be much simpler but society, learnt behaviour, and childhood hang-ups get in the way. 

Tonight I watched Britain's Got Tallent (yes it's back). There was a young lady performing who had fought through the pain of being bullied and found helself through singing, in this case Opera. She had a magical voice which projected the emotion of what she was singing. She had found her voice and it was a lovely thing to watch as well as hear.

Finding voice is a simple pleasure but we need to step out in faith, take one step at a time, and get beyond the pain barrier to find it. Have you found your voice yet? I encourage you to do so and promise that it will eventually bring you a simple pleasure.

Lent 2014 - 11th April: shopping

One of life's simple pleasures is the occasional shopping trip. I'm not really a big shopper. I think my husband enjoys it more than me. Today I went to Derby to get my hair 'done' and to buy a present for a good friend, I hope she likes it, I also treated myself a little. My excuse was that I have gone down a dress size, surely worth a celebration. I say dress size but I can't recall the last time I wore a dress. I digress. Not everyone can afford to go shopping. Money is tight at the moment having been given notice from the church here in Burton. Money is tight for a lot of people but compare our living standards with those of other parts of the world such as, the favelas in Brazil, there is no comparison. We are blessed, truly blessed. Compare what we have with what our parents or grandparents had and again we are worlds apart. The world hurtles on at a tremendous pace. It is good to stop and appreciate the simple pleasures of our life and the abundant blessings that knock at our door day after day.