Monthly Musings: January

It’s a little late to be wishing you a Happy New Year, and yet this is my first post for 2016 so I’ll say it anyway. Happy New Year. I hope it’s been a good start for you, and that you’ve had opportunity to rest and relax over the summer break. I confess it feels a little odd to be reflecting when the year has only just begun and it seems that things are only just beginning to unfold and yet to fully emerge. Still, here are a few things to share from January. I hope to be posting more regularly over the coming months.

• Christmas holidays were a wonderful time to catch up on sleep and a pile of books, but I also needed to get outside. I took a walk in one of my favourite places, the Mount Lofty Gardens, and reminded myself of the wonders of spending time in out in nature.

• Thanks to a couple of handy YouTube tutorials I learnt how to crochet hearts, and spent an evening making a small pile of them. Once I got the hang of it they were quite simple and enjoyable to make.

• I came across a wonderful quote on prayer from Richard Foster in his book Prayer: finding the heart’s true home. This is something I want to sit with and ponder for a while until it really sinks into my heart and not just my head.

Real prayer comes not from gritting our teeth but from falling in love.

• One of my favourite genres of fiction is historical mystery, and this month I finally read the first book in C. J. Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake series. Dissolution is set in the context of the dissolution of Catholic monasteries in England during the reign of King Henry VIII. The history was every bit as fascinating (and frightening) as the mystery.

 

Monthly Musings: December

December is a month that feels different from any of the others. It is a month for completion and a month for preparation. A month for celebration. As work and school is finishing for the year for many, there are also preparations for Christmas celebrations and summer holidays.

A month for rest and relaxation. A month where we rush at the start to slow down at the end. There’s a reason why it’s called the Christmas rush, but once Christmas Day is over, there’s permission to rest and relax, to enjoy the summer.

A month for reflection and anticipation. To reflect on what the year has taught us, and to anticipate what the new year will bring.

This year the most popular blog post on Flourish! was actually one from a previous year. With every ending comes a new beginning seems appropriate for New Years Eve, so I want to share it with you again:

Whatever endings you are facing today, whether you’re feeling happy or sad, exhilarated or terrified, relieved or just plain tired, may new beginnings be fresh air for you.

May your every breath be blessed.

Now, and in the year to come.