Friday
Dear Elsie
Today I overslept. I am such an early riser – usually between 5am & 6am, I’m out of bed and making coffee. Occasionally, it’s after 6 or even before 5am, but seldom is it after 7am. This morning, I woke up with full sunshine pouring in through the cracks of the curtains. It was daylight and I had overslept. It was a lovely feeling mainly because it didn’t matter at all! There was no one waiting for me. I didn’t have to be anywhere. I had just racked up more sleep than usual. I don’t have an alarm – I just wake up when I do. Sometimes Raiku meows to be let out and I did vaguely hear him this morning, but Mike got up and opened the window and I slept on. It was a rare treat.
What was also a treat today was the splendid sunshine. We had breakfast and I had afternoon coffee on the balcony.
Summer is round the corner. Mike had some work to do at the Sun Valley house so Julian and I went along so we could walk home. 5km in 1 hour or so. Passing views like this made it worth it.
Now we will have dinner and then some telly.
Sometimes I’m told how idyllic my life looks through the lens of my blog, but please believe me when I say I do have frustrations and stress. Mike needs to get a whole lot of approval certificates for varying parts of our build and the stress has been ongoing and at times it swallows him (and me) up! The other irritation which Mike has to put up with with me, and which puts me in a rage, is the slowness of my work system. It’s hit a key, wait 10 seconds. It can ruin my day & it is then very hard to keep the smile going! In the big scheme of things, these are small issues, but they are like an irritating splinter that causes discomfort for a season. In the background of our life, these are the things of which I don’t write. Last year was the biggest crisis year with David’s long Covid. That goes on but he is now able to function better and manage the finite amount of energy he has. He’s living independently in one of our units – we don’t see him every day – he comes and goes as he did prior to falling sick. It’s been more than 18 months. We are so grateful to see some improvement and the gratitude we carry in our hearts brings with it a far happier outlook that is for sure. Compared to what we went through last year, the vexations of this year certainly are of far lesser consequence.
2 Corinthians 4 brings with this this famous passage:
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
It’s not about now – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂