The North of Scotland

My dear Friends
I arrived home safely from the North of Scotland late on Thursday night. Stunning scenery all the way, mountains, lochs, rivers and sunshine, but for the first time I was glad to cross the border and return to England.

I am fortunate in that when I make a major move, I don't look back: perhaps it was all that training in the Bible when I was a child and the story of Lot's wife, which is embedded in my psyche. For those of you who don't know the tale, when the land was divided between Abraham and Lot, his nephew, Lot, is running away from Sodon and Gomorrah and all the fire and brimstone. God tells Lot and his wife not to look back, but Lot's wife caves in, looks over her shoulder, and becomes a pillar of salt. Very different to the pillar of fire, which followed the Children of Israel through all their ways and days, as a guide.

There is a similar episode or injunction in the new Testament: Jesus warns us to put our hand on the plough and not look back, as in this way we are moving forward and looking towards the Kingdom. Very hard to do, but as I have experienced a massive sense of loss with the death of my mother in the last 2 years, and she died around the time of my father and brother in different years, I know how it works, I humbly say-only massive loss can lead to growth, and there has been loss in other areas of my life as well. But the growth has been even more.

On a more mundane level, it was a good holiday, my friend showered me with hospitality and I lazed by rivers and watched the trout leaping. Staying in an independent Youth Hostel in Inverness, I had the chance to meet some wonderful young people, especially a young man called Stephen on the morning I left Inverness, and another young man called Stephen who looked after me as I stepped off the train in Peterborough. If you are out there-thank you!

Plenty to do here and Toronto, Toledo, Ohio and South Bend Indiana to look forward to in about 6 weeks' time. Hooray! Hope you have all been well.

Love and Shalom
Sister Gila