happening around here

Seasons - five things I know

1.  Isobella turned six on Sunday - who once was my baby, completely dependent on me, now fully fledged autonomous human. And beautiful! She had a party, there was party food and a cake, of course.  And plenty of dancing!

2.  Back in February I applied for an artist-in-residence (as a writer) and it was quite a big deal for me.  I had to produce a CV of myself as a writer, and write a proposal of what I would be working on if I received it.  On Tuesday I found out I was unsucessful.  I was disappointed, a wee bit sad, but mostly I felt vulnerable. I nearly cried.

3. Last week while I was breastfeeding Abigail she bit me big time!  (She has teeth top and bottom!) I yelled and put her down, and after that she refused to feed.  Since then I have tried and tried to woo her back but she is steadfast.  She does not do breastfeeding any more.   "Mum, it's just so last week", she says.  "Don't take it personally".  But I do, and I cry.

4.  Tomorrow is Good Friday.  For me, as a believer, this is more than just a public holiday, or chance to go away for the long weekend, or even a good excuse to go to church...  it is a day that connects with something very deep inside of me.  The place that knows there is more to life than what I can see, hear or touch, and that is so aware of my humanity and my desperate need for redemption.   And the place inside me that somehow (and I know this is not true for everybody) finds it very easy to love and worship an ominpotent and omnipresent God.  That makes tomorrow a serious day for me.  A somber day, a chance to feel the weight of what I believe happened on that day, and to meditate on who Jesus is to me.

5.  The woman I wrote about last week, who was on a hunger strike, has passed away.

This week I will have lived it all.  Celebration, mourning, loss and hope. In my lifetime I will live it all. What I have now, I will not have forever.  What I do not have now, I may have one day in abundance.   But someone has already written this.  I can't do any better...

Ecclesiastes 3

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
and a time to throw away;
A time to tear,
and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.

What do you think?