sin no more

I'M hoping at some point to continue a conversation we'd just started when the dog cut his foot and we had to get him home to bandage it (there's something v cute about a dog with a bandage on its paw - why is that?)
We were considering who it is that defines sin, and I suggested it's a bunch of men a long time ago, who thus decreed that owning a slave was fine but that two men lying together was abhorrent. I am still smarting from a recent sermon about a woman who was sinful as she was in a relationship but not married. For someone who has always striven to be a good girl, it's not easy for me to bear the label of someone who "lives in sin" (I don't live with my boyfriend, but the accusations stands).
The church sometimes comes across as sex obsessed in my opinion. I hear a lot about the sinfulness of myself and my gay friends. I don't think I've ever heard anyone be accused of sin as they still own two shirts and haven't given one of them away to a poorer person. I'm guessing if I was to look in people's wardrobes in this country, I'd find way more than one shirt in each - there certainly is in mine, yet no-one has ever pointed out my sin there for not better sharing the world's resources.

It's no simple task, to discern the will of God. I suspect that if the Bible were written today, it wouldn't read the same, as I believe the people writing it brought to bear their own perspective and words and language. (Tho I have before been told I'm not a proper Christian for the views I hold, so we can add heresy to my list of sins today if you like!)

Clearly there could be a million blogs on "what is sin?", but I'm just reflecting at the moment as to who defines sin, and am not going there as to what it actually is. I'm not one for throwing stones at people as I don't see how that helps anyone - but I do see people hurl metaphorical rocks at others all the time. I guess if I were trying to discern the will of God for myself, it would involve working on laying down any stones I'm tempted to throw, and encourage others to lay down theirs too. And maybe catch the odd one or two as they fly so that they don't hit their target.

Today I'm taking a bunch of young people to Blackpool's sandcastle. As usual, I'm feeling anxious about the responsibility and dreading being cold. I'm hoping no stones are thrown today ;)

lion lying down with the lamb/duckling with the cat

I needed a morning without setting the alarm, and so I'm not at church today. I am however being inspired by facebook - this about how love can overcome the desire to attack:
http://funnycatsgallery.com/mom-cat/the-cat-and-the-ducklings/

and this on how love can overcome the fear of the other:
http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/05/cracker-company-provides-amazing-response-to-homophobic-critics-of-same-sex-couple-advert-4689863/

I'm really pleased that a company wouldn't bow to homophobic criticism - I know that other companies have in the past, so it's good to see how kindly this has been handled.

I also did the quiz currently circulating fb, and discovered the "track of my life", ie number one when I was 18, was "everything I do, I do it for you." This interests me, as it was number one for ever and so at the time I wrote a piece on it for my church magazine, saying that as it was so prevalent, how could we rethink it, and that I was trying to see it in terms of serving God. It's funny to think that 22 years on I'm still writing about music and God and loving as best as we can.

Ooh look, I've started using capitals again. Yesterday was obviously just what I needed - a good cry in a long counselling session about how I don't get to be with those I love as much as I'd like. A lovely lunch with a lovely friend, a lovely homemade curry in front of a film. For a longtime I've wanted to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - it was certainly interesting, that taking away our memories of hurts isn't the panacea after all. And then some rest - hurrah!

Sleepovers tonight so I'm going to have to clean*, but will hold onto that uplifting image of fluffy ducklings and kittens all snuggled up together. Wishing you fluffy snuggliness too :D

*I've spent the afternoon trying to reduce a paper pile - how can so much effort result in so little well, result?

smelly imprint

you may have already noted that i'm partial to my sense of smell. i once did quite well in a quiz type thing where there were scents on cotton wool and you had to deduce what they were. i'm often sniffing my fingers - right now they smell of buttery croissant, yum. my boyfriend leaves a jacket of his here and i sometimes deliberately stop to smell it as I pass.
you also know i'm a hugger. one interesting by-product of hugging some people is that you sometimes get an imprint of a smell from them, so the hug lasts even longer :) just a few of the people i hug wear perfume or aftershave, and they get to linger longer.
when the kids bathed the dog last week i know it was in part to make him smell more like him again and less like others, having spent a couple of nights away in someone else's house. i don't wear perfume, and am not loyal to a brand of deodorant as it depends what's on offer ;) i do always use ecover washing powder tho, so in that sense might have a consistent smell to the nasally observant (is that a mixed metaphor too far?)
i struggle with the smell of cigarette smoke - as a child i once vomited on my uncle's shoes trying to get out of a car that smelt of nicotine (is it the nicotine that smells, I'm not sure?)
hope you weren't eating! i'm off to bed now. if i wasn't so collapse-in-a-heap tired, i'd put on some fresh bedding to snuggle down into. maybe i can manage a newly laundered pillow case?

ps, i notice that there are times when i can't even be bothered to capitalise, sorry. hope you can make sense of it. i will rest soon and return to full punctuation before the month is out.

pps i have a busier morning than i'd like - got to take the dog to be checked by a potential sitter so we can go to greenbelt. then looking forward to some lovely time with a friend in Lancaster. She's vegan and my attempts at shopping for lunch were very poor, resulting in a carrot and a cucumber. I hope your day has lovely friends and lovely smells in it too :D

I have spent a lot of today feeling grateful for lovely friends. Sat next to a farty dog, I'm less keen on smells right now...

slow slow cooker

there were some reduced-price veggies at the supermarket so i thought i'd dig out the slow cooker and make soup overnight. the setting can't have been high enough tho, cos despite the pleasant aroma, the veg isn't soft at all.

we were at the supermarket as i'd not been able to find anyone to share transport to get my girly to and from a guides bowling trip. so me and ma boy jetwashed the car and then bought some essentials, as there wasn't time to leave Preston and still get back in time to collect her. I'd not jetwashed before but he had, and I think he saw it as a treat. that's what i'm telling myself anyway.

i suspect there will be sand covering our cleaning. yesterday was like that - lots of trying to organise but not getting anywhere. a reminder this morning about chocolate crispy cakes has nudged me to remember i'm helping out at messy church before choir so now have ingredients for an evening meal we're not going to have.

need to leave for work early today as i have to be back early as schools finish early for the holiday. I'm working as usual next week but am v v glad that the holidays are coming. hopefully then i can stop feeling so much like someone out of ecclesiastes...

2.30pm and only finally sitting down now for lunch. no matter how much black pepper I add, it's inedible :(
oh well. it only cost 61p (plus electricity). the good news is it's nearly tea time already - jacket potato at messy church, i've heard :) and then singing :D

battery

Maybe it's Sahara up my nose, but I've had a low level headache for the last 24 hours. I have tho found the 20 secs needed to change the battery in the bathroom clock (someone else has recharged it, will have to locate that magic fairy and than them). I'm hoping this will be metaphorical and that I shall find a new lease of energy today...
maybe not :(
nearly the end of term tho. I'm working next week but the week after there will be resting, oh yes there will.

buckaroo!

My visual image of choice at the moment involves a large tray, with lots of random precious items on it. I'm doing my best to hold this tray, but some bugger - maybe it's me - keeps kneeing it unexpectedly from underneath, and some of the precious items fall and spill, others teeter then dive over the edge and crash to the floor.
It's only a small shift from the plate spinning image - I'm not sure why it's changed but it has. The good news about one tray is that it can be put down in a single easy step. No having to endlessly keep the plates going, no catching required. Just a simple Put It Down.
No brew for me after work tonight, it was an unending dash of dogwalking-teabuying-lawnmowing-haircutting-washingin-washingout. But enough is enough and I've now poured myself some rather delicious orange truffle Baileys and the stuff stacked by the sick is going to stay stacked by the sink. I'm doing a lot of stacking. Had the lawnmower not been placed so precariously on the seesaw in the garage, I'd have taken a picture for you. It was like playing a child's balancing game, you know where you hang a plastic monkey from a tree or rest a teenie barrel on a bucking horse. All fun really :)

Did you see I am so busy I wrote today's blog last night, to save a bit of time. Another dashing day, but at least part of the dashing later is to get to a gig to SING!
...
Bah, just realised the netball-kit-to-school-on-a-wednesday item slipped over the edge. I really can't keep everything upright on the tray. It's definitely like that memory game where you try and recall which item has been removed from the tray whilst you weren't looking... I did remember the hard boiled egg and shoebox he had to take today, just not the netball kit. Ah well, it's nearly the school holidays...

fool

One of my children covered the toilet with cling film, the other used it DESPITE BEING AWARE of the cling film and no prizes for guessing who cleaned it up. It reminded me of one of my few childhood memories that are not dependent on a photograph - most recollections seem to be based around a hook of a particular printed image. I can remember, giggling conspiratorially with my little sister, spending a very long time indeed using felt pens (not quite matching when the first one ran out) to colour in a large circle of "tomato soup" to fool my Dad. I find it so hard to believe now that I really thought he would be in any way deceived by it, seeing as it bore no resemblance whatsoever to soup. I'm pleased to report that my deception skills have not developed at all since then :D

I'm currently not quite managing to keep on top of stuff. I need to get to work so will just have to let that go and try and focus on all that might raise a giggle instead. I hope that each time today you realise someone is trying to trick you, you can delight in it, because they must think you're worthy of their attention and they want to make you smile :)

..........

Olfactory-wise, it has been a satisfying day. I've had several whiffs reminding me of various friends (their deodorants or washing powder or whatever it is that reminds me of them. Not their farts). And some luscious baking at one point. The sun is shining so inevitably the question has arisen as to when the pool is coming out. Let's not go there right now shall we, I feel overwhelmed enough already right now. On a more positive note, the rays have incited me to purchased salad items. I try and support my local fruit n veg shop but it always seems to cost a small fortune. The report that was highlighted on the news today suggests that we should be eating at least 7 portions, and that frozen and canned "shouldn't count". No wonder health outcomes for poorer people are so much lower - no surprise I know for so many factors, but it often feels quite tricky to cheaply purchase fresh fruit n veg compared to less nutritious choices.
Hungry now so had best go wash and assemble my purchases. Hope you can feel the sun too?