Friday photo – sparking memories

This week I have been editing and writing amongst the trips out to moor and sea. This piece of glass keeps drawing my eye. If you don’t recognise it, it is a representation of St Michael’s Mount and the causeway at Marazion in Cornwall when the tide is out. It is a National Trust property and the building on top was once a Benedictine Monastery.

I have so many happy memories of walking or even paddling across the causeway. Meeting friends and visiting with family, it is a special place for us. I love places which are cut off by the sea, they remind me that there is a natural rhythm to life and I function best when I go with mine so this is being written while it is still dark, the photo taken yesterday in the light. It sparks joy and when I am bogged down with trying to find the right words, it gives me a little break as I glance across and smile. I also get a sense of satisfaction in knowing we have supported an artist in their endeavours.

What do you glance at that evokes such positive memories?

Wondering Wednesdays – childhood spiritual experiences

I wonder what you remember of your childhood spiritual experiences? In my eclectic pile of books on my desk, one is on conversations with children and reports some research by Edward Robinson in a book called The Original Vision. He analysed 4000 stories and found that most spiritual experiences happened in three learning spaces:

“The space of tears, where there is brokenness, suffering and pain. The space of nature, which is the first book we are given to experience the revelation of God. And in the thin space or threshold, where events and information sync in an unexpected way, where woven cords of meaning surprisingly connect.” (Lacy Finn Borgo Spiritual Conversations with Children IVP, 2020, p25).

I am not sure it is very different as an adult, these are all spaces where I have had heightened spiritual experiences and looking back can see some of the shifts in my journey or thinking. One was on Cuthbert’s Island which I am looking forward to revisiting soon where Paul and I poured out some wine at the foot of the cross as a symbol of sacrifice and loss we were processing. I can look back on that occasion and know that was part of the journey of helping us heal.

Are any memories emerging for you?

Friday photo – drawn to Arthur

We went to Tintagel this week and I managed to have a photograph taken with King Arthur who was very popular! It is a beautiful setting and I continue to be amazed at how so long about such amazing buildings were constructed yet we sometimes do such a dreadful job now!

I have no idea if Arthur ever lived here, there are many versions of his story and his home is not definitively known. I think I am drawn to Arthur because of childhood memories. I remember seeing the film the Sword in the Stone and enjoying the transformative power in stories. A later memory was doing a piece of dance at school based on the Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table story, we all had different coloured fabric as cloaks. I loved all aspects of PE apart from running!

My Dad’s middle name was Arthur, I have no idea who or what he was named after.

I sometimes think that we don’t always realise the roots of what draws us to people or places or activities and as I am growing older am fascinated at exploring some of what and who has contributed to Sally now.

I like the sculpture too, the open spaces leaving scope for imagination and pondering and wandering round Tintagel and seeing the amazing natural setting lifted my spirits.

Friday photo – memory triggers

These poplar trees are in my local park. Each time I walk past them it triggers memories of my childhood park, playing on the swings, roundabout, slide, hitting tennis balls against the wall and even a bit of putting! Happy hours spent playing, eating picnics.

It is strange how sometimes memories hit us, a sight, a smell even a phrase, often a song and we are transported back somewhere else. Mostly for me this is to good places and times but there are also more troubling memories. Those I tend to revisit and look at how I might reframe them or understand them from the perspective of now.

Today as I was scrolling through my Facebook memories up came ordination pictures. 10 years on I can still touch the joy and the gratitude of being surrounded by many who had supported me on my journey at different stages.

Friday photo – triggered memories

Most Saturday afternoons when I was a young child we went to feed the swans on the Kennet. It was a highlight of the week, seeing the elegant birds swimming seemingly effortlessly along. There is a soothing calmness about them.

This swan is on Ullawater, the whole scene was soothing and calming with the swan triggering joy from the memories it evoked.

I currently carry aa pebble in my pocket from the beach we most often walk on. That triggers memories for me too of conversations, of crashing waves, of the faithfulness of tides.

I purposefully choose to have things around me to trigger positive memories, they can be a counter to some of the things that have the opposite effect.

How do you trigger positive memories?

Friday photo – glimpses

The pictures offer glimpses of our time away.

They are not the best pictures nor are they terribly carefully curated. They reflect what we enjoy.

You only see glimpses of the week. I post partly for the memories to come up in subsequent years so I can look back and recall good times.

I need time away from work to process, to recharge, to ponder, to review and have space which is not strewn with deadlines. I still have lots to process from what has happened over the past year and a holiday is more than just time off, it is space to heal. I look forward to returning to day to day life at home refreshed and ready for the challenges and opportunities the next few weeks brings.

Wondering Wednesdays – empty spaces, head full of memories

On Saturday I said a final farewell to the space I had inhabited for 22 years in my role as Director of Midlands CYM. It was a strange and sad day and it is important for me to mourn and grieve what has been lost.

As I walked round empty rooms remembering conversations, worship, teaching, presiding… so many memories came flooding back. Memories of people, of stories, of grace, of overcoming, of flourishing, of struggling, of becoming.

However, the head full of memories also fills me with gratitude and joy and what is not lost is an investment in many people over many years by so many staff and students. We learn together, from each other and I always feel I gain at least as much as I give in any learning situation.

Thus it really is the end of an era as the building passes to new hands this week. But the legacy continues across the world of people sent out to pursue and fulfil their vocation in the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Wondering Wednesdays – remembering

Yesterday my timeline had lots of posts about Gordon Banks, the great goalkeeper who won the World Cup with England. One of the stand out memories from my childhood. I so admire his skill and ability. A goalkeeper making a great save is one of the most exciting sites I know.

I was also reading about the importance of memories and want to quote the wonderful John Swinton who has so much to say about how we should live. He uses the phrase “dangerous memories” which are
stories of the ‘other’ – the victims of history who have been forgotten by society, but who remain at the forefront of the memory of God. In raising our consciousness to the reality of the lives of the oppressed such stories become dangerous because they radically intrude upon and call into question, our complacent and comfortable present.

While it is good to celebrate the life of those who brought us joy, every life is equally precious to God and we need to try to share the stories or more importantly help others to share their own story so we can be challenged and respond.

John Swinton Resurrecting the Person Nashville Abingdon Press 2000 126.

Friday photo – childhood memories

I don’t always make a shopping list and I had forgotten lemons (or limes) which are an essential item for us. As I was driving back to where we were staying I remembered there was an old fashioned greengrocer with produce piled up. I found the lemons and some were still wrapped in this beautiful, colourful tissue paper. My mind immediately floated back to childhood where a great uncle had a fruit van and he would produce oranges with beautiful wrappers. Fruit seemed a lot more special back then when carefully wrapped and more seasonal. Now fruit can feel a bit functional – have I eaten my five a day yet? I am often surprised by the way that memories return from tiny triggers. It was a very special lemon and I appreciate more fully those who cultivate and pick them!

Friday photo – little acorns

One of my favourite childhood memories is going for a walk near home and picking up acorns and seeing the wonderful little cups that held them. Perhaps even more fun was seeing squirrels pick them up – storing food for later. The phrase ‘mighty oaks from little acorns grow’ seems apt for summer where little acorns can be seen as memories that are planted and which can grow and nurture us over the years. Memory making is a key element of what youthworkers and families do and if we look back, there are things which have shaped us and changed us and which have helped make us who we are. Sadly, not all memories are good and some of us have experienced things which have made life more difficult for us and the same little acorns can grow into oaks which overshadow our lives and which we need help to chop down.