Something Loved
In November the winter weather truly arrived. Living on an island, sticking out into the Irish sea, we are subject to strong winds all year round, but the winter gales are something else! But there are still those days when I love wrapping up and walking on the beach, regardless of the weather. It can be a place to have time and space alone, to appreciate the wonder and majesty of Godโs creation. Then, having battled with the storm there is nothing better than being able to come back inside, to sit in front of the fire with a good book. When you are listening to the wind and rain battering against the windows, it makes you appreciate how blessed we are!
Which leads nicely to, what have I been reading….
Something Read
Somebody Someday: A Journey of Homelessness, Faith, and Friendship by Joye Holmes
This is the story of an unlikely long-distance friendship between a deaf, homeless, man and a middle-class, professional woman. This is an unusual story, and in its own gentle way challenged my preconceptions of those who are homeless. I received a complimentary copy of this book and the full review is on Finding God Among Us.
The Advent Narrative by Mary Geisen
A beautifully written book exploring the theme that Advent living is not just for the period of marking off the days until the celebration of Christmas. When we acknowledge and receive Jesusโ first arrival, we begin to live Advent lives as we look to his second arrival. With that perspective there comes a shift and a change in our view of life, that we are waiting attentively, to live the best version of ourselves each day. Even through our wilderness experiences there is opportunity, to learn and grow, in the waiting as we lean in to God, to wait well!
Available from Amazon

Something Treasured
This November I have saved from old cassette tapes, onto a memory stick, some recordings of my father singing his favourite old hymns. The sound quality is not particularly good, but I didn’t want to lose them – and ‘cassettes’ are so easy to damage. Also I no longer have anything to play them on, so I had to borrow a tape player!
This is not the first time I have done this. But I made the mistake of lending the memory stick to my eldest son to print off some documents in the local library. Yes, you guessed it he came back with the documents but no memory stick. I had a lovely Sunday morning, however, once again listening, remembering, and treasuring happy memories.
Something Ahead
November is coming to an end and we are looking ahead to Advent. We count down the four Sundays to Christmas and reflect on the keywords wait, prepare, rejoice and love. This year it may be a simpler Christmas, but we can prepare our hearts to rejoice and celebrate God’s love, revealed to us through the sending of His Son, Jesus. Which is after all the true reason for the season!


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I love your something loved … I can almost picture where you live!
Can you hear the wind and rain? In fact today we had cold, dry and sunshine! So lots of outdoor time…
Having read your description of winter on your island, I feel like I shouldn’t complain about winter in London ๐ It’s a wonderful idea to transfer your recordings of your dad to digital format but I guess now you’ll have to do it again? “This year it may be a simpler Christmas, but we can prepare our hearts to rejoice and celebrate Godโs love, revealed to us through the sending of His Son, Jesus” – indeed. It’s a celebration nonetheless because as you put it, Jesus is the true reason for this season.
Those recordings are certainly a treasure! It can take a lot of time to transfer our precious memories to a digital format, but now you can treasure it for years.
So true and I’ve learnt my lesson, I will keep it in a safe place! ๐
I would love to visit your island someday! It sounds lovely.
It is a place that has a rugged beauty – I hope you do visit and love it like I do! ๐
I didn’t realize you live on an island. I can imagine how wonderful it is to be able to walk along the shore whenever you want. ๐
Yes it is – I love being by the sea. We are a little island, off an island, off an island! But all joined up by bridges ๐
An island off the Irish sea… sounds dreamy! Your Something Treasured is wonderful! So glad you have those memories!
Oh wow – what a treasure! To have your dad singing. I would love to have even a VM recording!! Enjoy listening to those hymns!!
Thank you – yes it is such a precious blessing!