"So This Is Christmas......"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb5hk7jDvvs

John Lennon composed this little song as a protest against the Vietnam war at the time. The full title includes the words "War is over". There are a number of different "versions" of the song on youtube. There is one depicting the most ghastly photographs of war and suffering taken by some of the most hardened war time photographers of the time. I decided to stick my head in the sand and post a much softer version with pictures of beautiful gardens and stuff. So much for the explanation.

It's wishful thinking to believe pain and suffering will stop. Even just for one day. It's even harder to imagine the warring factions will put down the guns and silence the rhetoric just for one day and "Give Peace A Chance". Believing that death and destruction will take a deserved break just for one day is the belief of a fool. So what is there to believe in. 

Expectation, Hope, Joy, Purity are what the four candles of Advent mean. We can live with the expectation that tomorrow will be better. We can live with the hope of a brighter future if we all put our hands to the plow and work together to make this world a better place for each other. We can share in other's victories and celebrate the joy that comes with overcoming obstacles. We can strive toward the purity of heart and mind, to live life never to have to look over your shoulder. 

Am I delusional. Maybe I am. Yet someone once said there is good in everyone. Sometimes we just have to scratch a little deeper to find the shiny bits. 

Look back, Look Inward and Look forward. May this Christmas be a GOOD ONE.     

Lessons from Trees - Hope for the Future

The one skill I do not have is gardening. My green fingers just never grew. Maybe that's why God gave me the ability to see things just a little different. 

Anyway, about three weeks ago we hired a gardening service to come and cleam up around the house. One of the trees in the front yard is a Syringa. Those that know the tree will also know it tends to be a little messy. However it is also a hardy and resilient species. Trying to control it's growth can be a full time job. These guys rocked up and hacked away and broke off branches fron the tree with almost reckless abandon, leaving one or two jagged ends. Two days ago I went out to get our tree climbing cat out of the tree and spotted the new shoot growing out from where the branches were broken of. My first thought was to photograph this little marvel of nature. Well, I think it's "bloody marvelous"

This got me thinking.

Twenty fifteen can hardly be described as a vintage year for me personally. And I guess I can say with a fair degree of confidence that there are many who too, have not being dealt a fair hand the past year. Now we find ourselves on the verge of Christmas and the end of the year. Twenty Sixteen beckons. We can look back at the year gone by and reflect on the mistake we've made and revel in the victories. We can use the gift of hindsight and say with confidence "never again will I do it that way". The future is unknown and it's quite frankly better that way. 

However, I want to have the resilience of the Syringa. Even though I may be broken and slightly bent out of shape, I want to continue growing and have the ability to grow new life. There will always be adversity. People will come along and "break" me crudely and harshly put me down. But I want to have the ability to sprout new "branches" everytime.

And to all my friends here, there and everywhere. See you all in 2016. Never give up. Never stop growing "new branches".    

Perspectives

One of my all time favorate songs is a song by Phil Collins called "Both Sides Of The Story". 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PclPI54NvNM

Watch the clip and you will understand where I am coming or going with this. 

Friday afternoon we had our usual dose off loadshedding. I decided to escape the pending darkness and head to a little place not far from home. It's a place where one could at one stage quite peace and solitude amidst the bussle of urban life. It's a place where, on a good day, one is able to photograph the most beautiful birds and the occasional wild life. One can sit in a hide and wait for hours for a Malachite Kingfisher to appear out of nowhere. The silence will surround you and solitude will become your companion. 

Friday was different. There was the noise of construction everywhere. The sound of hammers and drills and mechanical tools drowned out any hope of quite solitude. AND above everything, there were no birds. I had clearly chosen a wrong time and wrong place to "escape the darkness". There was going to be no getting away from the noise. 

I left the hide and decided to walk the paths in search of something to photograph. Two little Cape White Eyes made a fleeting appearence. They were simply too fast to capture. It was getting cold and miserable. The only "subject" left to photograph were the thorn bushes. 

Looking through the lens I struggled to see beauty in the thorns. They appeared harsh and threatening. For a moment I pictured the crown of thorns. I imagined the damage they could do. Then I saw a nest under construction. I saw the little green leaves on the branches surrounding the thorns. I changed the settings on the camera and managed to "paint" a mottled, blurred background. All of a sudden there was beauty there.

Just now and then we need to change our perspective and look at people, things, circumstances and our own lives just a little differently. 

There is always another PERSPECTIVE. We may just need to make little adjustments.  

Rising From The Ashes

Cape Town experienced one of the most devastating veld fires a few weeks ago. It raged for days over a vast area of the Southern Peninsula. A family drive-out yesterday took us along the route where the fire had roared for days. 

The "moonscape" is visible from a long way off. What is of signifigance is how close the the fire had come to dwellings and how lives were affected. Vast swathes of mountainside has become sandy wasteland. The normally beautiful green landscape has become a blackened scene of unbelievable devastation. 

As we drive along the winding mountain pass the we see more and more signs of life rising up amidst the ruin. Green leaves seem to be popping up in the most unlikeliest of places. Mother nature has taken control and and started restoring herself to the former beauty. We are told it may take years. Yet one thing is sure. The beauty WILL be restored. 

Our lives are often devastated by raging fires. We are challenged by circumstances that destroy our dreams and desires and proverbially force us to change direction. All  we see from one end of the horizon to the other is utter devastation. Smoke clouds our vision and our eyes drown in tears as we try and make sense of the ashes and embers that surround us. 

As Mother nature is able to rise again, we too can rise from the ashes. When the smoke has cleared and the tears are gone, we are able to see the green leaves rising from the scorched earth of our lives. Yes it may take years. It may even need a complete turn around strategy. In nature these fires need to burn. So too it is in life. The fires need to burn for new life to rise from the ashes. 

Let the fires burn. We have a God given power in us to Rise From The Ashes.        

From One Christmas to Another.

The period of advent always seems to catch me unawares. In fact it's become really bad over the last few years. I am not sure whether it's got something to do with age or whether it's just the over emphases on material splendour the world seems to place on the time of advent. I make no bones about the fact that I detest the commercialization of Christmas. But that is just me. 

There is however another little factor that comes into play. 

The question is often posed. What comes first, Chirstmas or New Year. I have often tried to catch my nieces and nephews with this little trick. Most times I lose. 

Yet those few days after Christmas is often the most difficult for me. It's like being stuck in the doldrums with no wind and very little direction. It's the time when the god Janus comes out and forces me to look back and look forward at the same time. And honestly speaking the last couple of times I did that, both the past and the future looked equilly bleak. But I am an eternal optimist. I often need to force myself to reflect deeply. Where I was, where I am and where I need/want to be. 

Twenty fourteen has not been a good year. The harvest has not produced the finest vintage and it will certainly not go down in history as been one of the finest crops. In a matter of days it will end with me not working for a boss. That "security" of getting paid at the end of the month will be gone.The only option is now me to create my own security. I now have to do it for myself and I must honest, I am as scared as hell. I have never been here before. 

I do not make resolutions. I find it's like making a promise to yourself and breaking it a day, a week or a month down the line. However the one thing I do know is that my life is not in my hands. There is a greater Being that holds control over the path ahead for me. 

So 2015 will be a new beginning for me. Yet the greatest gift I have is this fact. I am healthy. I have resources, albeit somewhat limited. I am able to use my hands. I breathe. I have family that cares. I have friends that inspire and uplift me. I am not alone. And then, most of all, I have GOD on my side. All said and done, I am pretty much ok.

There are those that have very little, least of all hope. Let us think of them this Christmas     

"So This Is Christmas"......

 

I must be honest I am not a great fan of the commercial hype that comes to the fore this time of the year. In fact, I find it somewhat of an irritation when my ears get tortured by the endless sounds of Boney M and Mariah Carey doing their level best to earn royalties form the carols they sing. But that is just me. And Christmas is not about me. 

John Lennon penned the words to the song "So This is Christmas/War is over" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb5hk7jDvvs. . 

The words are somewhat repetitive. Yet they ring very true. In the light of the news headlines we heard over the last few days. A husband and father is held captive in an Eastern country. If one is to believe all the reports then he was on the verge of being set free. However, as fate would have it, he is caught in crossfire of apparent raid and killed the night before his release. He leaves behind a wife and children whose lives are shattered and broken and who will have to battle with the reality of preparing to lay him to rest ......just before Christmas.  

For many that will be Christmas. We all live in hope that we will see the breaking of the dawn every day. I am sure we all go to bed at night with a huge measure of confidence that we will awake as normal from a nights rest. 

Maybe the point I am trying to make is that we should treasure every moment. Capture those little moments of life that we seem to miss as we go about our business. 

As for Christmas. May we all just be that little light that will brighten up the day for someone else. That stranger in the car next to you may just need a smile. That colleague at work that never fails to wind up your last nerve may just need a hug and a word of re-assurance. And then, let us not forget the REAL meaning of Christmas. Let's put the CHRIST back in Christmas. 

"Let it be good one"

One of Life's Most Precious Gifts.....

We sit with candles burning all around. I am on a laptop with battery power and using a mobile WIFI devise to connect to the internet. I guess on the bigger scale of things I am a lot better off then a lot of other people. We have just had supper. Fortunately the food was prepared by yours truly earlier this afternoon. Depending on your perspective ,the only little or major  inconvenience is the fact that our power utility has failed to plan correctly and as result has turned our cities into black holes.So when one looks at the bigger picture, it certainly seems like I am better of then most.

Lets take this just a little further.

Yesterday afternoon, just as we are about to enjoy Sunday roast, a cell phone rings. The wife answers and hands the phone to me. On the other end is a desparate, almost distraught voice. He is a friend. The news he shares is not good news. He's young wife is breathing her last living breaths. Cancer has brought her to the edge and time is running out very rapidly. His plea is a simple one. Will we please just come through and spend a few moments with her and him. 

However things are never all that simple. Our location in relation to where they are is about a forty five minute drive. We overlook that small detail and decide to hit the road. 

What we find rocks the wife and I to the core. She is not human anymore. Her face is distorted and the once beautiful head of hair is no longer. Yet through all that she hears my voice and sort of responds. What is very evident is time. TIME is not on her side. Sadly her clock is ticking. It is only a matter of TIME.