Thin Place

 I've been having a rough year. 

WELL , not compared with people of Somalia , Nigeria , Yemen and South Sudan , who come top in some charts for Famine . WELL , not compared with people in constant pain, WELL not compared with people relying on Foodbanks in the UK, victims of crime, lonely people, you may think of dozens more situations, you may be really having your own rough times. It is relative. 

I am just venting .

I am in need of a change of scenery. Dont get me wrong! I had 3 great days away at Wydale in January when No 1 Daughter came and stayed here  with her DAD so I could recharge . I also loved my day out to Wharren Percy in May.

7 months later I'm in need of another change of scenery.

I love my days out to Kingston upon Hull on the train to accompany my sister to the Eye Hospital for her injections, I loved going with beloved to Holy Nativity Eastfield to a day with the wonderful Bishop of Wellington and his wife talking about New Monasticism . I love my Sanctuary Space OKA my allotment. I love Monday evenings and cant wait for Only Connect to come round again. I love my afternoons upstairs with my latest Library book as Beloved watches something in black and white on Talking PicturesTV.

I am yearning to go back to Iona . I want to stay in the B and B on the Machair overlooking the Bay at the Back of the Ocean. I want  to watch the Spouting Cave , and look for pebbles of Green Marble, and get to the Quarry . The grass is always greener on the other side. Last time on Iona we had a plague of flies in the bedrooms from the seaweed being tractored from the beach to the gardens in the houses facing the sound of Mull. IT RAINED mostly  for 4 1/2 of the 5 days we were there, and the sea was so rough the ferries were cancelled. I'm only remembering the Langoustines, the rainbows and the quiet, aside for the fantastic SKY TVs in our rooms and real sighting of Corncrakes. (I like a thin place for most of the day only.)

Ive learned a lesson today. I went to the quiet 10am Celtic Morning Prayer in St Oswalds, using the Northumberland Community liturgy. Angela and Paul read the devotion from the book and guess what , It was about Iona !

I was in Iona ,  I remembered scenes from all my the visits , with beloved, with sisters, with aged parent in wheelchair. 

It's all there in my wonderfully created God given brain. And Ive got all the pictures.

And the lesson is this , in Psalm 139

Lord, you know everything there is to know about me. You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind. You are so intimately aware of me, Lord. You read my heart like an open book and you know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence!