Saturday was a busy day with a variety of tasks including a burial of ashes, sermon writing and preparing for Sunday worship and a visit with a family to prepare for a funeral. When I came to reflect on the day and do the doodle my mind was blank about what to put in the circle. So I simply started drawing swirls and coloured them in. They represent the day quite well I think.
Sunday marked the return to worship in churches and permission to have a drop of wine on the wafers for the congregation. The dove represents peace, which was the topic for my sermon at the afternoon annual memorial service where we lit tea lights to represent our loved ones who have died. It has been a good day.
On Saturday, as I was about to enter the house I noticed a lovely sign of new life in the flower tub. It had been given to me by the gardening club at one of my village church schools (All Saints) almost 12 months ago as a Christmas present. It had a few pansies planted with the promise of bulbs for later on. I took the photo below (left) when I noticed the first of the bulbs appearing, 28 January 2019. The other photo taken this Saturday has the last of the pansies – amazing that they have kept on going all year – and the first signs of the bulbs once again. This is a wonderful reminder that nature keeps on going as well as the Christian Hope that this life isn’t all there is. Death, as represented by the brown leaves that had blown onto the tub; perseverance, represented by the pansies, and resurrection represented by the green shoots.
I have taken photos periodically to be able to show the children. I think now is the time to put them together in a little video for them. I will share it with you when it is done……. but don’t hold your breath! I have a busy week ahead: two funerals, a school assembly plus a Christmas message for pupils to film, preparations for various Christmas services (adapting for Covid-19 situation; we are tier 3), the usual admin etc, a long To-Do List that just keeps growing plus a new venture – attending our support group for the isolated and vulnerable where I will be doing some mindfulness and art. In addition I signed up for a Mindfulness and Art course online for four weeks on Gratitude and Grief in 2020. A new task each week. I will have to do it in stages. The first email arrived yesterday. I have read it, which is a start!
Elizabeth Jones' Diary 