Ruminating upon the theme for my next blog after being silent here for so long, I wondered what I would say. I only want to ‘speak’ here when there is something worth saying. And so I have been sitting and waiting.

On the end of a truly dynamic Christmas season 2024 and all the upheavals and revelations experienced throughout the year I now hear the small still voice telling me “It’s time to speak up”.

And so … here we go, in the hope and prayer that this will bless others in the process, as well as enabling me to continue to make sense of all the turbulence, revelations and experiences of recent history.

To say that the past year was one of unprecedented learning is an understatement. And it was learning that came at a huge cost, as these things always seem to do!  I know that this was a scenario experienced by so many around me, so I feel validated in expressing scenarios and responses here in a spirit of sharing, encouragement and the belief that from every bad and hard thing something good will come if we wait, trust, and believe.

But yes, easier said than done!

I have often been told that I get myself into ‘trouble’ because I go against the flow … that I do things for and treat others in such a way that I am always setting myself up for a fall. If I was to harden up, forget an often unrealistic sense of duty and start to do as others do – or at least do to others as they do to me – my life would be much easier, and certainly less painful at times. But to do so would be to go against the very nature of whom I am and who God made me to be.

Yes, the lessons of the past year have taught me to be more circumspect and to guard my heart, to start thinking with my head and not out of an emotional place … but none-the-less I don’t think it’s humanly possible for me and similar kindred souls to ever be as detached, even ruthless and cruel as many I have encountered over the past year or so. And don’t get onto the gas lighting and narcissism of many perpetrators I have encountered in recent times. Harden up I need to do – yes. Be cautious and guarded – yes. But change my very nature to be like or not attract such types – not possible!

Thinking about such things at the start of 2025 and still processing the happenings and lessons of the past season, I received a timely missive from my beloved Uncle who, like me, has endured a great deal in life at the hands of others. His journey of healing and reconciliation to reach a place of peace has been a long and torturous one, but now he has come to that wonderful stage of understanding and freedom. With understanding there has come wisdom, and with wisdom a liberty from all the negatives that have been heaped on him from the youngest age. His healing is a testament of faith, determination, hard work and hope. And it’s something that he is now working to share and impart to others who have walked a similar walk and carry the same wounds of heart and mind.

An example of his encouragement is his continual sharing of inspirations and sentiments … sometimes once a week, sometimes several times daily. One such message particularly resonated and was so affirming in its essential ‘spirit’ of encouragement to keep going and not change, to keep swimming against the flow, that I share it here:

“If you love and serve people, you are going against the grain of the world. If you do this you will upset those who are following the way of the world and you will treated as weird and placed on the outer margins of their world.

“Consider this story … Five people were trapped in a cold place. A small fire had been started but needed more wood. Each of the five people had a piece of wood, but did they contribute their piece of wood to the fire?

“The first woman held hers back for she glanced at all the faces gathered around the fire and saw that one was black.

“The first man searched the faces of the group and saw that no one was from his church, thus not of his faith and so he could not bring himself to give up his piece of wood.

“The second man sat in ragged clothes and gave his coat a hitch. There was no way he was going to give his to the idle rich.

“The black woman’s face was full of hatred. As the fire faded, she kept her log to punish them all … the rich, the poor, the white.

“The last person in the group did nothing in life unless for profit and only gave to those who gave to him and so also withheld his piece of wood from the dying fire.

“When the five were found dead around the fire’s embers, each still clutched their unshared piece of wood in their frozen hands. Each died not from the cold without, but the cold within.

“The lesson of the fire is always to share what you have, even if you risk being regarded as different or weird. Offer the warmth of someone who is real, approachable and acts with integrity.”

And so with the coming of the new year – with all its challenges, scenarios of good and the evil which will sadly come, its opportunities and its disappointments, its joy and the sadness it will hold, the challenge is to remain true to one’s self and nature;  to navigate a course where one’s emotional, mental and physical state is not only preserved but set on a course of further repair … to aim for peace and goodwill; to embrace the kindred and shield oneself from the aggressor, and to be just a little bit weird!