17th June 2012

What a lovely smile, yeah don’t they make a happy couple! Yes more miniature cows to talk about today. And close inspection reveals consecutively numbered ear tags, so I guess they’re sticking together for the duration, for better or for worse as it were. They should be safe for a while though, as they were purchased  initially to graze an area of conservation woodland. But I can’t say the same about the hundreds of fast growing lambs in the nearby meadows as I guess few will ever see a birthday. What a strange and very short life some animals face. Then again, given the beautiful surroundings and quality care things could be an awful lot worse.

And everything about my life feels strange nowadays. Nothing is normal anymore. I loved being part of a happy couple doing the ‘for better or worse, until death did us part’ thing. I’m still finding my feet as single bloke, wondering what I should or shouldn’t do. I have no restrictions, I’m completely free to do anything I want. But what do I want? Well as a ‘good’ Christian there are many proscribed behaviours I wouldn’t pursue. Not just because my Bible says not to either; no for me the hedonistic pathway of wine women and song holds little if any attraction. It leads nowhere, so I won’t even begin to walk along it. One thing I’m beginning to discover though, is how simple it is to change long term patterns of behaviour. So for example I’ve always been a bit of a news junkie, quite happy watching or listening to reports multiple times throughout each day. Not so good really. But no longer, as without forethought I started filling my day up with alternate activity, and suddenly realised that some days my TV never once got turned on. How weird is that? I suppose the basic lesson is that I need to keep busy in a healthy way and there’ll be no space left for temptation to steer into the less helpful.

Philippians 4:8 ^‘And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.’ (NLT)