another day closer to celebrating the anniversary of the greatest love the world has seen... a quote that I have been pondering:
For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.
- Rainer Maria Rilke

And so 2006 draws inexorably to a close, my annis horribilis punctuated by the kindness and concern and prayers of so many - thank you! The world seems a real mess, but 'twas ever so...

2007 will be a new year, with possibilities that I have not even begun to think about. Suffice to note that I will enjoy a trip to western europe and the west country of my birth country in mid January.

What dreams may come, before we shuffle off this mortal coil? to twist the bard. Hope and expectations run deep, knowing that love conquers all. Yet love and suffering are intertwined, and hope and faith are sureties that one can only rely on in our interaction with other people. The scale of suffering in Iraq and Sudan, to name just two places seems to be increasing. But even the pain of individuals and society locally seems to be increasing. So I pray "come Lord Jesus, with your peace and healing." I look forward to increased peace and an increasing acceptance of my fragility in 2007.

But before that I will spend the last week of 2006 with the image of the child, the child who is the master of the universe dandled on his mothers knee, and know that in the sight of God, there is much more to life than we can know.

Merry Christmas gentle readers; rejoice for unto you a saviour is born who will free us from sin and suffering and lead us into the ways of love and eternal peace!