inkhorn

Dear B, As sisters go, we’re probably a unique pair. Such opposites, yet we get along so well. (As you probably realised by now, yes, I miss you!) I came across the poem that I wrote for you before I left home. And it brought back so many memories of you. I love so many things about you. Your buoyant enthusiasm and the tendency to jump into every enterprise, feet first! (How many times have I had to be the voice of sanity, if not reason!) Your unflagging loyalty and your penchant for flying to the defence of the three most closest to your heart, then (am adding L to the ranks now!). You have this amazing gift of reaching out to people and giving so much of yourself without expecting anything in return. I love the generosity of spirit and heart that sets you apart from all the rest. You feel things so deeply, yet you have a childlike joy and delight in the silliest of things! Your optimism surrounds you like a cloud (remember the stained glass painting of the butterflies and bubble...

A verse in Isaiah stopped me in my tracks the other day. It was fairly innocuous on the face of it, but as I stayed my mind and eyes, and looked beyond the printed words, I felt like I’d been douched with a bucket of cold water and warmed by a crackling fire, all at the same time! I had heard recently that we are called to live a victorious life; rising above the mediocrity and commonality all around, to a glorious, abundant, fulfilling one. So I prayed very sincerely and sought His strength. But something was missing and I didn’t even know it until I stumbled across that verse. For a moment in time, I glimpsed, or rather felt, the awesome power and majesty of God. Like a curtain being pulled aside for an instant to present a brief vision, my mind seemed to be suddenly drenched with a sense of overwhelming awe at His splendour and magnificence. And with it came a sense of power – of freedom and strength all in one. Freedom in acknowledging my complete insufficiency and finding stre...