Earth is crammed with heaven

It was another first for me last Sunday. My future daughter-in-law Megan, sang in worship I was leading at our church. The idea was voiced when we were talking about favourite Christmas songs. Mine is 'Breath of Heaven', Megan said she used to sing it. I said she could sing it for me in a service. A couple of texts went back and forth; and come Sunday there she was, Imagined as Mary With her questions, Her pleas Her complete sense of God's hand on her life. She started as I imagined Mary would have, and then as the music continued she flew. Her voice strong, pure, with her own stamp on the music. With a 'modern twist' as some people commented. Now I'm not a composer. But I do write, and have occasionally been edited poorly and the meaning of my words was lost. I understand how frustrating it must be when people make changes to your baby. However when Megan sang, her little flourishes brought the music to life. She sang Breath of He...

There's been a bit of traffic on the blog lately. Apart from my writing that is. There seems to have been a big pause on that front. I did an interview for a national publication that was published this week. It's not as grand as it sounds, trust me. I responded to the questions several months ago, and wasn't sure when it would go to print. I realised it had when a friend sent me a message, She loved it; Thanked me for 'keeping it real'. And that got me thinking. In my line of work, I believe I have an obligation to honesty. I am a truth teller. A life-liver. A joy-seeker. And in truth, that's not always the most comfortable place to be. But if I don't 'keep it real' who will? If I am not honest about the fact that life in all it's fullness is hard sometimes, often.... then why write? why preach? why speak? Recently I believed I was entering another episode of depression. A blood test later, an adjustment in medicati...

I turn 50 tomorrow. I know. I'm shocked too. I always thought I'd have a big party to celebrate. You know what a party animal I am. Except when I thought about it, I realised I'm not at all. I just like to dance. Any time, any place, anywhere. Apart from that I prefer good food and laughter with a few friends who won't take much persuading to dance with me anyway. The truth is that the last few years have been a journey of self-discovery. I've struggled hard to discover what works for me amid the reality of long-term illness. The key word there is struggle and as I commence a new decade I realise I'm done struggling. It's time for acceptance. My working life Family life Personal life is completely different to 10 years ago, because life has happened. I may not be the person I used to be, but you know, I think that's ok. When I turned 49 I set out to do 50 new things in my 50th year. A few of them are swimming related, you ...