Delivering Love

22 years ago today 16 tiny children and their faithful teacher were shot dead in the gym hall of their school. Their average age was 5. The image of their primary 1 class photo seared on the minds of all of us who remember that day with agonising clarity. Who can ever forget the sight…

Every single one of us without exception judge . We believe we won’t , we aren’t that way , but we cannot help ourselves, it’s the human condition . Most of us will do our best to keep this rather undesirable trait in check , to NOT be that person who looks on and opines.…

Forgive my absence yesterday but we were otherwise occupied by the arrival of this 7lb 2oz bundle of loveliness into our world and our family . Baby Elsie has been here but 24hours and already we cannot imagine the world without her in it . She was a child much prayed over, much desired by…

In this life there are few certainties. The few obvious ones, we are born, we die and so forth. Surely amongst these two great life occurrences the great and bold ‘messy drawer’ must belong. I hear the gasps of no, not I or what a thing to insinuate etc etc but the fact is we…

Tomorrow my only daughter will be 14. It will pass with limited pomp and circumstance , most of which is exclusively for my benefit and not hers. There will be balloons and banners and wrapped presents by the fireplace, as is our tradition, and there will be much pleading for photographs and memories of the…

Some years ago when my two eldest weren’t quite 2 &3 we had a fairly significant snowfall. In all my motherly wisdom I decided that it was my unquestionable duty to take my two toddlers outside to have ‘fun in the snow’. This was a time when Facebook was but a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg’s…

Death is not final, it’s a coming home..these are the phrases we hear as Christians when a loved one passes to eternity. Do I believe that? Yes of course I do. Does it comfort me? Not always, actually not at all. It gives me peace that the person I love has found their way to…

This week has seen much of the UK paralysed by a perfect storm all the way from far off Eastern lands. The Beast from the East they named this crazy phenomenon. Here in central Scotland we have seen our infrastructure brought to a virtual standstill. We are not equipped for snow drifts and the like,…

I wonder how easily others would rush to judgement on our lives should we be forced by circumstances to live it in a way that was exposed and humiliatingly visible. You know those circumstances and situations that we work hard to protect from the outside world, the ones that we can just about manage so…

There is no question that the most complex part of being me is what my little sister calls my ‘big soft heart’. It is the source of all my joys and sorrows bar none. It is a blessing , a curse and a completely reliable source of conflict all packaged up neatly within my chest…