Holiday take 2

It’s always more fun writing a blog about a holiday before you go than when you get back it turns out! But here I am, dutifully writing a blog. I could go on and on about how great the holiday was (and it was), but it seems a little unfair, because, as I said before, not everyone gets to do what I have been able to do. What I think I began to realise on this holiday is that I’m better at taking delight in the small things and not the “big” things a holiday sometimes brings. Here’s what I mean by that. I took great delight in spotting birds that I haven’t seen before. I used to be a keen bird watcher when I was younger and I know some of the more familiar birds. But there were birds I didn’t recognise. Stupidly, I didn’t take my binoculars (worried about how much luggage we already had to be honest) so I was often gazing from a distance. I bought a bird book to help me out and discovered I had seen Stone Chats, Rock Pipits, Kittiwakes, Great Black Backed Gulls, a Razorbill, Gannets, possibly a Sanderling and, to cap it all, a White Tailed Eagle! You can’t beat that. Oh, except that we saw a porpoise and red deer. I would have been happy with that. But we saw the most majestic mountains, valleys and lochs. I could get lost in that world. It is magnificent. We’ve already booked to go back next year!! And here’s the thing: it speaks, it shouts, it bellows of a God who is endlessly good, uncontrollably generous and irrationally loving, who just loves to give. When I’m there I can see it, feel it and embrace it. Fantastic. But now I’m home? I’ve bumped into all the challenges that life brings. I’ve heard the stories of some of the things people I know are facing. On Saturday we’ll sit as a family, thousands of miles away from other family, and watch on a live stream, the funeral of Lisa’s dad because we can’t be there with them. That’s the reality. Holidays comes to an end, however good they are. The reality of life sticks around and reminds us of things we’d rather forget. What I most want to remember though, is that both of these things are true: God is endlessly good, uncontrollably generous and irrationally loving and, life is hard, sometimes harsh and cruel. If that was the whole truth it wouldn’t be great would it? The whole truth tells me that one day, one fine day, I will see the beauty of God in all his fullness. And that will be better by far than any holiday!