True forgiveness

Most of us, even if we are not Christians, are aware of Jesus' words in Matthew 5:43-44
'You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.'
 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,'
but we are seldom in a situation of real emnity to put this into practise. Yes, of course, we have our petty situations, such as work colleagues 'backstabbing' their way to promotion but, praise God, most of us in the West are not being actually persecuted.

I was perusing the Norwich cathedral website, with a view to taking a visit this week, when I came across this page showing the Chapel of Holy Innocents. Here, it says, 'prayers are said for victims of cruelty, persecution, and intolerance.' But just look at the prayer found at Ravensbruck concentration camp during the second world war:

O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will but also those of ill will. But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted upon us; remember the fruits we have bought, thanks to this suffering, our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of this; and when they come to judgement, let all the fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness. Amen.’

Wow! Now that's what I call forgiveness!!! What a saint! But it made me think....I've been through some awful times these last few years due to my husband's descent into alcoholism (though not even on the same scale as the suffering of concentration camp detainees, of course) and I can certainly see positive things, 'fruits', in myself that have come from it, such as greater self-confidence and the boldness and daring to do things instead of shrinking from them. I don't know that I'm quite ready yet to say 'do not remember all the suffering they inflicted upon us', I still need to deal with the remnants of anger and resentment, but I can certainly thank God for the good that has come from it, and for the wonderful people in Al-Anon that He has used to bring this about. Forgiveness will come...

Second blog!!

I've always found writing to be a good way to explore and let out my thoughts and feelings, and have done just that for many years. Thought I'd set up a second blog to share some of these!

To find it you could click on the title of this post, go to my profile, or click the link below - hope you enjoy it.

http://patchworkmusings.blogspot.com/2012/01/welcome.html

More Thursford Wood photos

My daughter is a much better photographer than me, so I feel privileged to share these piccies from our recent visit to Thursford Wood, Norfolk. She has such an artist's eye for lighting and subject and other things that are a mystery to me! I have not put in pictures similar to the ones I posted earlier, but have picked out the ones showing details she spots - enjoy!

Ladybirds clustered together to hibernate.

Beautiful detail of gills.

The lichen on this fallen stick looks like seaweed.

Shiny holly.

Winter pond at the end of the walk, before turning back.



A time for reflection....    ;-)

If you look hard you can find little clusters of fungi in all sorts of nooks and crannies.



These were tiny.

Very spooky faces!!! Glad it wasn't dark!



Some mad lady enjoying her day out......

A bit of tree love......