Holiday (Vacation) Time!

So on Wednesday I fly out to stay with my friends in North Carolina. It’s a trip I've made for the last four years. I’m staying for a little under four weeks and I’m very much looking forward to it. We will be spending a week at the beach house which will be fabulous and I’m looking forward to doing this so much.

The early morning sunrise, the golden sands and the soft warm breeze from the Atlantic Ocean…heaven! I've been told that there just might be a sighting of the dolphins first thing in the morning; I’m hoping I’ll be lucky enough to see them.

Dianne, my friend of some forty something years will be at Dulles airport to pick me up with her husband Wynn. It’s a long drive for them from where they live in Moyock but every year they make the trip to meet me of the airplane.

The first few days will be me sleeping, the trip of eighteen hours exhausts me, but they have a fantastic patio where I just laze around in the warm sunshine without a thing to do except…sleep! Then it’s to the beach for a whole week.

My legs are whiter than snow, and the glare will surely have people running for cover, but hopefully they will color quickly. After a winter of boots and thick coats I’m ready for some warmth.

I will be keeping a diary of my time in America with lots of pictures, so keep looking back to see what I've been up to, and perhaps I might be lucky enough to get pictures of those dolphins.

Forgiveness!

What does forgiveness mean?

Forgetting?

Compassion?

Righteous?

A conversation with my daughter reminded me that we are responsible for our own failings and that of forgiving others of those failings.

Forgiveness does not take away, excuse or justify the wrong it means we’re human. We all make a mistake that’s how we learn. It means that even if someone has done something wrong we can forgive.

Forgiveness requires strength and sometimes that strength is pushed to the limits but ultimately we have to have hearts big enough to do this. It’s a gift from one person to another. However I realize this can be too much in the wake of some dreadful things that happen in this world.

 Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting. How can one forget, you can’t it will always be there in the back of your mind. This is a human function, a part of our brain that cannot be controlled.

Dwelling on things past is a useless purpose, a waste of our precious time that can be cut to short.

It is part of life that we argue and say things we don’t mean, much of our time is spent getting on with our day to day living, day by day, month by month and year by year. As the clock turns and the years pass suddenly one is reminded of how short our time is and the chance to devour every waking moment overwhelms us.

 Surely there is no time to be anything other than forgiving.

God forgives us every day for all our wrong doings so we surely too should have it in our hearts to do the same.