MONO MONDAY - START

We decided that we would take down the decorations today - along, no doubt, with a few thousand other people, so that we could try and get the house “back to normal” whatever that may mean.

For me, the birthday cards will stay up for at least a month - well it would be rude just to take them down and consign them to the bin without enjoying them - but the Christmas tree along with all the baubles, the tinsel, the Nativity set and everything else are now in boxes upstairs, the Christmas tree, of course, still festooned with the lights!  Well, we do have a spare room so for a few years now, we have just moved it up, lock, stock and barrel, as they say and it saves an awful lot of angst for the next Christmas.

The new calendar is now gracing the wall, sent by my lovely friend, Marylou from Pakistan and having put on it all the birthdays, the dates for putting out the rubbish, the green bin collections and of course, Mr. HCB’s cricket matches, I am beginning to feel quite organised.  Oh, I nearly forgot - our upcoming holiday is also marked IN BIG LETTERS!

At the start of a New Year, it is good to take stock of what went well last year and what, if anything could be improved.  I downloaded an app to my iPhone, Bible In One Year, so Mr. HCB and I started listening to this each morning - and enjoy hearing Nicky Gumbel from Holy Trinity Church in London, but enjoy even more the dulcet tones of David Suchet, who does all the Bible readings.  I can thoroughly recommend this app and it does set us up for the day.  

One of the comments Nicky Gumbel made was “God doesn’t make rubbish” so the next time I am tempted to think negative thoughts, I must will remember that.  

The Voice, Reader’s Bible, was given to me for my birthday by a very good friend, Susan, and in the front of the Bible, it says: “As you engage in this story, you may experience a strange feeling that you are being followed or pursued.  If so, your instincts are correct.  This pursuit is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Christian faith.  This is the story of God’s relentless pursuit of us, and in the story we will begin to hear His footfalls following unfailingly behind us……We believe that as you read you will be able to experience God taking the broken pieces of your life and making you whole;  your anger and resentment will be replaced with hope and grace;  you will imagine a new way to live as a participant in God’s redemptive work in this world.”

WHAT A START TO THE NEW YEAR - I can’t wait to get going and come to know God better as I spend time with Him.

 “….I know the plans I have for you,” 
     says the Eternal, 
          “plans for peace, not evil, 
               to give you a future and hope - 
                    never forget that.
Jeremiah 29 : 11 The Voice

P.S.  As I was typing this, a reminder popped up on my phone for 12 noon, as it does every day at this time - to say the Lord’s Prayer and to pray for special friends, Connie and Clark, who live and work in The Philippines - it’s good to be reminded about important things.