Tuesday 16th September, 2008

…..and STILL raining. Rain on rain on rain........

Mr Mutt is bored of paddling round the park and the chooks are well fed up of pretending to be ducks. ChickPea has finally given up thinking this is summertime and is accepting that her glums and lousy sleeping may be ‘SAD’-related, so she spent much of this morning in front of the ‘SAD’ light. We’ll insist she repeats this for the next few days and we shall see what happens…..

Dunno if it’s related, or not, but it is certainly high time she flexed the fingers and got back to the blogosphere……. All this rain an’ traipsin’ doon the Jobcentre isn’t doing her a lot of good. But she also toddled along to an employment agency a few weeks back – heard nuthin' - and then got a phonecall about 12.30md today asking if she wiz available to work this very afternoon………

So, wot the heck – off she scampered, and spent the next 30mins changing ‘Euro’ prices on shoes to ‘££££’ prices, and the next five and a half hours changing black plastic coathangars to fancy wooden ones, and trying to make the new coats and clothes involved look just perfect for someone to buy tomorrow when the shop opens for the first time……. She knew it’d be tiring – and she’s not sure she wants to do the same ever again – but the astonishing environment of a new clothes shop sorting itself out the day before opening is a vignette not previously encountered. The progress over the six hours was really quite, quite remarkable. Organized chaos. The ‘boutique’ for tomorrow was emerging steadily from the apparent melee of today.

And rather good to finish an hour earlier than expected……….. and GREAT to find that TH had cooked ChickPea her supper for when she got home. Now, bath and bed……….and if she doesn’t sleep well after all that………..

In Leith the Sun Shines

Mr Mutt takes Time Out

Mr Mutt Goes To Leith

Well….. ‘went to Leith’ , as in ‘yesterday’ might be more accurate.

TH was scheduled to be in Leith (by Edinburgh) for an hour or so related to work, so, taking pity on ChickPea’s recent Miserable Maud-like Mood and Mr Mutt being stuck with said person, TH gathered up some spare flexi-time, filled up the car (after getting the exhaust fixed…… you should have heard it…… ) - and then away they all went. Sunshine on waking up in the morning had already turned cloudy by the time they left, and thereafter to rain…… again. But as they trekked along the M8, clouds thinned, bits of blue appeared and the sun peeked thru. Wonderful !

A late breakfast had happened, so a shared round of sandwich at The Malt Whisky Society provided a most acceptable ‘luncheon’, and then TH went off to work, and Mr Mutt and ChickPea went off to saunter around and see the sights of Leith. Clouds amassing and departing meantime, the sun was a welcome but intermittent visitor, and Rain – astonishingly – didn’t arrive. So Mr Mutt and ChickPea basically toddled off doing the Leith River Walk (not at all like The Lambeth Walk, not least no cassocks……) for as far as they dared and back again, given not-knowing-where-the-next-bridge-was, it-looks-like-its-coming-up-to-rain-and-the-car-is-way-back-there, and not-many-people-around-I wonder-if-this-is-wise……….

And had a good time. And didn’t fret about not doing household chores/looking for a job/applications for a job/etc. Tho Mr Mutt did have to contend with His Own Frets (the ‘why-do-I-have-to-sit-here’-fret and the ‘what-if-she-goes-off-and-leaves-me’-fret).

TH had a successful time, Leith harboured a fine Turkish Café for an afternoon coffee with stickies once he re-joined the walkers, and then they all rambled off again to make room for supper – most ably provided by T.M.W.S. again, in The Vaults. (One floor up – no – I don’t understand either ….) Haggis, neeps an’ tatties to remember for all the right reasons, followed by The Finest of Summer Berries Crannochan and Choicest of Cheeses. (‘F’ the cholesterol diet….)…….

All Part Of Life’s Rich Tapestry.

Mama Mia !

What a hoot ! TH and ChickPea needed a break several Saturdays ago, so they took theyselves away out to a film. They happened upon ‘Mama Mia’.

Me oh my – wot a larf !!! Larfed her socks off, she did. And cried – yup – cried too. The tears wiz rollin’ they wiz.

There wiz sea, and sunshine – lots n lots a’ sunshine……….. and sand, and friends, and friendship, and love and laughter and fun……. almost like you wiz there yersel’ too………Sheer fun………

And there wiz families, and Fraught, and Frantic and Frenetic. And Forgiveness.

So much wiz unlike ChickPea’s own experience.

And there wiz tears, and there wiz laughter. And there wiz Understanding, and Forgiveness, and Acceptance. And Wrongs Were Righted, and Partners Found, and there wiz fun and Rejoicing and Giving Thanks. And Celebration.

And much wiz like ChickPea’s own experience. And the Whole was So Very Incredible An Experience, that it needed to be repeated, to see if it was true.

So last night, they went again, with some pals. And yes – there wiz the sea, and the sky, and the sunshine, and the love, and the laughter. And this time there wiz words too…….. Now there’s a Thing. Singing. An’ Dancin’.

Glasgow was oot an’ aboot, an’ at its ver’ bestest. Its Finest. Most Memorable. An’ the film wiz Fun. Again. And it wiz good. Very Good.

Led by the Spirit indeed......

ChickPea found another kindred spirit today….. well, ‘re-found’, ‘re-encountered’. (Amazing what you can find when/if you look, eh !) TWO posts on his blog since she’d last sought him – a wealth of words and heaps to consider, loads to want to answer. But a ‘learned reader’ she is not. How on earth to respond to the question, “Should we always respond to the Holy Spirit ?”……….. but even if his blog’s ‘comments’ seemed inadequate a forum for beginning to address this, would the question go away ? Indeed not………it fizzed and frothed in Chickpea's head........

So let’s see what we can find in ChickPea’s kitchen……..what insights can be found amongst the various ingredients, stirrings and splashes from today’s soufflé……..

Steven says, in his blog 'Searching for God', “The Holy Spirit. Should we always respond to the Holy Spirit? What does it feel like in the life of the Christian to first recognise the Spirit and then to respond in submission to it? I think I am familiar with the first issue. I know, I think, what it feels like to feel the Spirit move me. Sometimes, especially when faced with someone else's pain or poverty I feel a desire to do something. I feel not just compassion but a desire to turn the compassion into an action. For example, I was walking to the train station from work. A sad homeless man shuffled along in front of me. He was wearing an old suit and white trainers. His face was cut up. He was carrying a cup of coffee and stopped to pick up what appeared to be a small coin. I wanted to stop and take this man for a proper dinner, to feed him properly and make him feel like a human being. I also wanted to go home, get my own dinner and relax after a bruising day in court. What did I do? Well I ignored the Holy Spirit of course and justified it by saying I did not know if the man was drunk or sober. I know it brings to mind a middle-class slushy teenage sense of Christian ethics but it is perhaps helpful to ask, "What would Jesus do?"

Indeed. What WOULD Jesus do…….? I know what ChickPea has done on oh, so many occasions……. Exactly the same as you, Steven. Now, putting aside the “Jesus” question, which I think diverts us from the real issue here, and to which I think we may already know an accurate answer…….. IS this action given here a ‘non-response’ ? – or is it a response, indeed, of ‘ignoring the Holy Spirit’ ? …… or of ‘declining’…. ‘refusing’…… ?

“Should we always respond to the Holy Spirit ?”. Can we, indeed, NOT respond in some way, if we have been aware in the first instance ? My own thoughts are that we usually DO respond to things…… maybe not as we would like to, however. We may ignore, or refuse, or only partially respond as we feel called to respond. Sometimes we are just not up to the task, nor ready to seek the strength to enable us to respond in such a way. Maybe it will cost us too much…….. the money, the energy, the time, the love that we just do not feel capable of giving. It may be a cop out, but I consider all of these as parts of ‘the human condition’, part of being a son or daughter of ‘Adam’ and the inheritance of ‘sin’ which comes along with this package, and which is intrinsic to my very cellular composition……

Hence my need for redemption, for being saved from being the ‘less-than-ideal’ me, and transformed, through the Love of God and the example as well as the sacrifice of Christ, into ‘The-Me-That-I-Was-Created-To-Be’……… the Me that will be so much more than I can ever be on my own, and that will be so very MUCH ‘Me’………. Not ‘someone else’ – but Me.

And maybe, just maybe, trying to respond positively to the Holy Spirit in the opportunities that arise along the way will gradually assist and effect the personal growth, that transformation, that Can Be. That the original ‘Redemption’ has made possible. That is always there, awaiting the positive response. That with love – the Love of God – the Love of Others – even my own feeble and faltering Love that allows me to try and respond of a time – Can Achieve the unbelievable.

Well ? Well ?!! Don’t just sit there ! Hide if you must – but what do YOU think ?

PS. Call round to Steven's blog here : http://stevenmcquitty.blogspot.com/

Role Play Update

ChickPea has been upping the stakes tonight, with more job applications.

As she told you before, the ‘Pharmacy Assistant’ did not have her name on it, tho’ she felt she could have worn the hat quite proficiently. She awaits ‘Phlebotomist’ and ‘Home Care Provider’ responses, and/or developments from the employment agency. She might alternatively become a ‘Kennel Person’ at a local vet surgery, or maybe ‘Receptionist’ for a local dental practice.

Alternatively………..

Maelstrom

Round, and round, and round, and round.

What’s this ? Roundabouts again ? - with Gorgeous Golden Gallopers or with motor vehicles ?

Er, no.

Just the repetitive dull skies/grey clouds/rain/dull skies/grey clouds/rain saga…… and the ‘get up/survive/try to sleep/get up/survive’ round……..and the ‘try to be nice/walk the dog/try to be nice/do the washing up/still try to be nice/do more chores/try to be nice/walk the dog again/still try to be nice/do supper/try to be nice/do the washing up/still try to be nice’ edition of Everyday Life For Everyone…...... and, of course, the ‘find advert/believe it’s a job you could do perfectly well/gain application form/apply/make sure application was received/wait…./wait…./wait…../find anuther advert/believe THIS is a job you really could do’ version as well………

Monotonous. Maddening. Mindnumbing. Muddling. Messingwithhead-ing.

(and this is only week 5 so far…....)

Yup. Not enough sunshine. Open the 'Red Bull'....... On with the S.A.D. light....... try to assist a miracle.............

...... Morbid Mabel Strikes Again, and Loopy Looe is out to play……...

"Time for bed" sez Zebedee.......