Guacamole Girl

Busy weekend

I'm just getting to grips with this week after a very eventful weekend - and it's nearly the weekend again - Hurrah!

On Friday, our little treasures went to stay with my Mum & Dad at their splendid B&B, then we made a sharp exit & went to stay in a hotel near Stirling called Broomhall Castle. We were the only people in the hotel (I think they're just finishing a refurbishment) so we were very well looked-after, and of course well-fed.

We climbed a bit up this hill (even though I was totally wearing the wrong shoes) & had a lovely view of the Forth Valley.

Saturday evening, we  went to see Pirates of the Caribbean, which, as predicted was too long and too too silly. However, if you give up wondering who's chasing who (and why) and just enjoy the jokes, it's still worth seeing. And of course, there's lots of Johnny Depp.

On Sunday, my brother-in-law & his family came to stay. We went to Pollok Park, but unfortunately, we were rained off.

Even though they say in Scotland: "If you don't like the weather, hang on for 20 minutes", we had to wait till Monday to get a bit of sunshine.

After all that, I was back at work on Tuesday, leaving Guacamole Guy to clear up the tornado zone. He even did the ironing on Tuesday evening - bless him!

As Ferris Bueller used to say: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

 

Proverb of the Day

"The world of the generous gets larger and larger,

The world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller"

Proverbs 11 v 24 (Message)

I have found this to be true in so many ways, both in my own life and looking at the way other people live. Hope you are inspired to more generosity today.

Let Whereveryouare Flourish

I'm reading Proverbs these days, and as usual enjoying the slightly off-beat translation in The Message. This verse was part of this morning's chunk of wisdom.

When right-living people bless the city, it flourishes;
   evil talk turns it into a ghost town in no time. (Prov 11:11)

It reminded me of Glasgow's motto: "Let Glasgow Flourish". Proverbs reminds us of a way to see that happen. Blessing our town or city, focussing on the good things that God has given to it & its people, talking it up, not running it down. This is an upward spiral – the beginnings of community transformation.

When I think of Glasgow, my home town, some things that come to mind are the parks, the grand buildings, the optimistic outlook, people you don't know chatting to you in a queue, a spirit of inventiveness. These are some of the things I missed during my self-imposed exile in England, and some of the things I'm taking time to notice today.

How would you bless your town?

Listen Up

I just got a text from my friend Ilse to say she's on the radio tonight. Listen in to Revival Radio between 6 & 7pm tonight to hear some totally sublime music. Hope you enjoy it.

Back to (God’s) Nature

These days, I am trying to get back to nature a wee bit – avoiding processed food as much as possible & cooking fresh when I can. I love cooking, although the outcome can be a bit random (last week's special was leek, spinach & brie filo parcels for example). I had a trip to Queen's Park farmers market last weekend for some inspiration and enjoyed the sight of all the fresh fruit and vegetables from around Scotland. We picked up some lovely strawberries from Blairgowrie and a feast of veggies for the soup pot.

All very yummy, but that's not the end of the story. When I was praying this morning, waiting and listening to God, I had a mental picture of baskets of vegetables (a little bit like this picture). There were shiny red tomatoes, dark purple aubergines, and leafy green herbs. I asked God if he had something to tell me about this, or was it just my imagination running riot?

What I felt God saying was firstly that he made all these wonderful things to enrich our lives and health, and that it's good to respect & enjoy His creation. Also, I felt this can be applied on a spiritual level – eating natural, rather than artificial reflects how we need to take in God's word, and let that nourish us, rather than absorbing the human wisdom and worldview we are often surrounded by. Although we need to, and hopefully want to, interact with the world around us, I am reminded of the need to be a bit critical of the "tolerant" society we live in. (Is this analogous to reading the labels on stuff in the supermarket??) The concepts of dependence on, and interaction with a loving Father God are foreign to most of our neighbours and colleagues.

However, what came out of this picture most overwhelmingly was God's goodness. The richness of His grace and provision for us. Seeking God is not a bland, boring spiritual exercise. It's in His presence that we find the bright colours, strong flavours and aromatic aromas to enrich our lives. Despite what is all around in the media and "mainstream" thinking, it's important to hang on to this reality – this life is "real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." (John 10v10, the Message)

Word of the Week

 

Guerrilla: irregular soldier, usually politically motivated: a member of an irregular paramilitary unit, usually with a political objective such as the overthrow of a government. Guerrillas usually operate in small groups to harass and carry out sabotage.

The origins of this word are from the Spanish guerra, meaning war. However, it's interesting how the word is being used these days. In many contexts, it has lost the overtones of violence, while retaining the idea of stealth or working undercover e.g…..

Guerrilla marketing: the use of unconventional, especially labour-intensive, methods to promote and sell products (hadn't heard of this before, but it's in msn dictionary)

Guerrilla preaching: as promoted by Stuart. Perhaps he will supply a definition.

Guerrilla gardening: groups of people going out at night to wage "war against the neglect of public space" – I would secretly love to do this! There's something very appealing about sneaking around quietly doing the opposite of sabotage. Imagine going to sleep overlooking a patch of wasteground, then waking up the next day overlooking a garden – excellent.

Any more peaceful guerrilla stuff going on out there?

Election fever

The Holyrood election is drawing ever-closer, filling the news bulletins, papers, lamposts etc, so I thought I'd think out loud about my vote....

First and foremost - I will vote for someone.  Sounds obvious, but it's worth saying. I have only once missed an opportunity to vote since I was 18 (because I was living in England, but still registered in Scotland) I do feel quite strongly that voting is a privilege, and a right. There are many countries where that right is denied. Even 100 years ago here, I would have been denied a say because I'm a woman. It's a privilege because we have a chance to influence our society for good. I know there are many more effective ways of participating in the political process (just ask Elaine) , but voting is a basic part of democracy.

That said, next question is who (or what) to vote for. Am I voting for a person, or a set of policies that they represent? I was hoping to have looked at all the parties, weighed up their policies in the light of my personal priorities (mainly social justice, the environment and no nuclear anything) and presented a brief summary of my conclusions. However, as I also have a nearly-full-time job & a full-time family & there are 18 (yes, count them, 18) parties on the regional list………here's the abridged version:

Labour – our current MSP is Labour, and does work hard for the constituency, but it would totally stick in my craw to vote Labour after our participation in an unjust war and continuing occupation of Iraq.

LibDem – promising to invest in alternative energy and public transport – that's a box ticked. Our local candidate is a Christian – hopefully if elected, he'll support the local Fairtrade initiative etc.

Conservative – "vote blue, get green" goes the rhetoric, but our local candidate is standing on a nimby* ticket (against anything which puts council tax up or house values down), so he won't get my vote.

SNP – maybe…..I have voted for them in the past, but no one wants to go into coalition with them till they drop the independence referendum. Does that make it a wasted vote??

Scottish Christian Party – hmmmm. I looked on their website to see where the stand on the main issues. I'm still none the wiser, apart from they're pro-discrimination and want to impose a moral agenda. No policy on poverty, unemployment, education, health etc………. No vote from me then.

Greens – most probable in that they are for environmental action (obviously) social justice & anti-nuclear. Is it a no-brainer?? Possibly.

They say it doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always get in. But I believe we do need to discuss, participate, maybe even rant, to stop Guacamole Guy voting Tory, oops, I mean to make our vote count for our community & our nation. Thanks to everyone (Lynn, Stuart, Dave etc) who has given me food for thought on this. Happy voting everyone!

*nimby – "not in my backyard" i.e. I'm a little bit selfish(!)