Thank you to all in our community who were able to contribute.  We added our thanks to everyone who helps us care for feet – podiatrists, nurses, doctors, orthopaedic surgeons and pedicurists.

We sent the socks to Footscape with our blessings for the people that receive them.

As can happen, the gift was also received as a gift of encouragement to the work of Footscape.

John Ch13, v14. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 

Probably.

Because the thing they say about plans is…
Umm.. I’ve forgotten.
Anyway…
Somebody somewhere said something super smart
about how plans don’t ever turn out right.

And there’s every chance that I’ll walk into the back yard,
trip over the hose I left there yesterday,
discover  the scent of unchanged cat litter tickling my nostrils,
decide i need a coffee,
debate with myself over whether it’s time yet,
adjudicate that it’s not, and plant myself grumpily at the outdoor table,
flick away an errant spider,
notice some weeds out of the corner of my eye and start pulling them out at random.
guess at the source of my headache
then realise it’s the noise of the station works down the road
realise that noise  has driven far away any vaguely intelligent birdlife.

Then I’ll stomp back inside,
make the coffee
and throw together a sandwich with stale bread, cheese and a suspicious pickle.

And that’ll  be ok.
This day is not all days.
This time will pass.
This plan was not the one plan that was going to make it all better.

I’m ok.
Grumpy and cheerful,
I’m ok.

Even in a time of suspicious pickles
I can choose to love my neighbour as myself.
I can choose to love myself as my neighbour.
I can give thanks to God for this weird stale sandwich,
And I’ll be fine.

Gareth

And once there,
while it’s just them and the seagulls,
(and i presume the occasional enthusiast
getting in their early morning jog before spending a day on zoom,
and probably also some delivery drivers,
and…
Look. This works better if it’s just the people sneaking out in the dead of morning, so let’s stick with them.)
All alone (Yes! Alone!)
they’ve been giving their 5km world a gift.

When the world stirs to life a few hours late…
When the first wanderers appear with their dogs or their kids, or both…
they find before them
arrayed in splendour,
a magical world in the sand.

Sand penguins are playing soccer
while further down the beach
a sand octopus looks on.
If you walk a bit further,
a sand-gator hungrily circles a wary sand-turtle.

It’ll be gone tomorrow.
Kids.
Tides.
Wind.
Mostly kids.
Sand will rejoin sand
reminding us all that nothing lasts forever.

Honestly,
“Nothing lasts forever” is a message I can live with right now.
And so is the other one;
the message that while the world is busily handing us dismay and distress,
I can choose to start handing on some of my misfortune
so that my misery will be shared

Or…
I can look for ways to make everything a bit magic.
Mainly for others but I might find some magic there for me too.

I’m going to try to choose that one.
The magic one.
That’s the one I’m going to try.

Peace is a decision we make
not when we’re surrounded by friends and wellwishers
but when we find ourselves trapped with people
we secretly
(and sometimes not so secretly)
wish would just go away.

Peace can be hard won,
unstable and dynamic,
hard to define
even when you’re holding it in your hand.

Peace can be dangerous to the one who wields it.
It should probably come with a warning sign.

Peace is a decision we make
not once
but over and over
and over…

…and over again.

Let us meet this day in peace.