Auntie Lyns 80th Birthday

So here are a couple of pictures from my Auntie Lyns 80th birthday.

She's my Dad's sister - that's a picture of her at the top. She's such a great, generous lady and has been like a surrogate grandmother to me all my life (All my grandparents died before I was born). It was such an honour to celebrate her birthday with her - and hopefully we'll do it on her 90th also!

The second picture is one of the siblings. The front row is Auntie Lyn and Auntie Mag, then behind in the striped shirt is Uncle Dai and my Dad in the blue shirt. Sadly my Uncle Bob passed away 4 years ago - the pciture is incomplete with him. But there's something about this generation that stick so close together. They have coffee every morning at 10am and chew over everything. They look out for one another and will take each other to the doctors, hospital, shopping when needs be. I think that there's a unity with my Dads generation that is missing from mine - a closeness. Whether it can be atributed to war time, or the post modern mindset now, or just the changing times I don't know - but I'm kind of envious of it.

Anyway - here's to my Aunt and hoping to celebrate many more birthdays with her!

Second guesser....

I need quiet

I need space

I need to stop

I need to rest

It's not that I'm physically busy but you know when you're head is so full of things and you just think *STOP*.........but how to escape your own thoughts, concerns, fears. I need to take time to speak to my soul, to organise my thoughts, to not be driven by feelings.

I've realised I'm a second guesser. My first reaction in any situation is to attempt to decipher how this will affect the other person/people........how they'll feel, react, will they be happy by it, sad, overwhelmed.

And so I end up creating scenarios that may never happen........never doing something for fear of what could happen as I'm 4 miles down the road already.

This needs to change!

I need to change!!

I was reading 1 Chronicles 19:1-4 which says "Some time after this Nahash king of the Ammonites died and his son succeeded him as king. David said, "I'd like to show some kindness to Hanun son of Nahash—treat him as well and as kindly as his father treated me." So David sent condolences about his father's death.

But when David's servants arrived in Ammonite country and came to Hanun to bring condolences, the Ammonite leaders warned Hanun, "Do you for a minute suppose that David is honoring your father by sending you comforters? Don't you know that he's sent these men to snoop around the city and size it up so that he can capture it?"

So Hanun seized David's men, shaved them clean, cut off their robes half way up their buttocks, and sent them packing. "

I realised that David had the correct heart. His intentions and desires where to honour and respect, not to harm and manipulate. But David had no control over how his actions were received.

When I do something, I have to do it with the right heart and intentions. I will be misunderstood, I will be rejected at times, I will have no control over the other persons reactions. But as long as I do it with a heart that is in line with God, wanting the best for the other person, allowing it to cost me something and not fearing but doing it sincerely - then I'm OK.......I'm on the right path

Anyway just some thoughts and ramblings...........