Author: mrgsponderings

Wasting time?

The latest photo-Tweet from my friend Joyce lives up to its caption.

The quotation from Maya Angelou speaks of how we remember people for the way they make us feel.We all have people we turn to when we need a shoulder to cry on, an ear that will listen or someone who can hug us. Hopefully, we are such a person for others. In this case, the lovely little Robin makes me feel happy. This little creature is uplifting and in giving pleasure expects nothing in return.

It reminded me of story by Sheila Cassidy in her book Good Friday People.

Sheila writes on aspects of Christian spirituality and is also a doctor. She was involved in the hospice movement. In the 1970’s she was practicing medicine in Chile at a time of political unrest. Because she treated a leading figure of the opposition, she was arrested and tortured. As a result of her imprisonment she was keenly associated with Human rights and prevention of abuse.

The story which came to mind on receiving Joyce’s tweet is from when she was being a doctor in more calmer times. In her book Good Friday People  she wrote of a seemingly insignificant incident but it had huge implications.
One day she was working on a boring job and a friend popped in to see her. This is how she described it.

He loitered around for nearly an hour, perched on the edge of the table, smoking a cigarette and talking occasionally of nothing in particular. After he left, she found herself filled with a special joy because her friend had deliberately wasted an hour  with her. She wrote that “we were not discussing something of importance or that I needed consoling; it was a pure and unsolicited gift of time.

She reflected that if we think about it, for busy people, time is often the most precious gift they have to give. Doctors, priests, those who counsel will always ‘spend’ time with those in need. They may sit up all night with someone who is distressed; they may pass long hours in listening to problems or giving advice; but it is all time deliberately spent.

People who spend or waste time in this sort of way are those who understand the difference between what is urgent and what is important, or, to put it another way, they understand something that is key to our relationships– that real busyness is about being busy for others rather than being so busy that we shut them out.
Having time for others is, as Sheila Cassidy noted, among the most precious things we can give to them.
It is particularly important in this day of instant communication and of a real sense of loneliness in a lot of people to make people feel they matter.
I don’t know about you but when I’m talking with someone and their mobile phone rings and they immediately answer it, I feel my importance to them has been somehow diminished.

Our little Robin above reminded me that I need to be attentive to others in a very special way which shows them they matter – a lot!
We could even turn our phone off whilst spending time with them.
Now there’s a notion!!

Earth rising.

Earth Day 2022

“In honour of Earth Week this week, Sister Ruth Johnson of the Sisters of Providence in Indiana, USA  shares the poem below that she wrote to reverence Earth. The Sisters are a community of Roman Catholic women religious (vowed sisters).

The Sisters of Providence  of St Mary-of-the-woods live out Jesus’ radical Gospel message by dedicating their lives to love, mercy and justice. They collaborate with others to create a more just and hope-filled world through prayer, education, service and advocacy.

Earth Rising.

Sometimes I hear voices
rising from the Earth
warm words – sounds
that resonate and flutter
leaves rustling growing
green thoughts from the soil

It is alive and clings to us
in ways we have forgotten
It’s self-giving and
“belonging” ring no more
as it once did
it cries in need of
it pleads for us in all the ways it can

When the Earth speaks
it speaks in tones for
all that grows within and without
it springs from well-being
it speaks to all who
have discovered the
words to live by
it speaks in a language
that only those who
have risen to its voice
can understand
it lives through their
response and when they
forget their birthright
It speaks for itself

[Sister Ruth 22nd April 2022]

# Sister Ruth and her Community
have given permission for this poem to be shared with others.

Putin’s enemies

These are some of those who are the enemies of Putin.
Against these he points his missiles, guns, tanks and all the machinery of war.These are they against whom his tirades and rants are aimed. They occupy his every waking thoughts. He will not sleep or rest until these dangerous and war-like people are annihilated. His soldiers who fight them indiscriminately are not that much older and they could be their brothers.
But Putin wants them dead because those young lives and thousands of others are a big threat to the stability of Russia.

He has already succeeded with Elisie Ryaboukon. He would have been 14 in May. Back in March, the Russian soldiers gave permission to the people of  his village, near Kyiv,  to leave. They waved them good bye and wished them luck. Then, as they were crossing a field, the same Russian soldiers opened fire from all directions. Elisie, that great threat to the entire Russian nation, was shot and lay dead.

Putin must be proud of himself.

Elisie

Then there is Daniil Avdeenko who was injured in a Russian mortar attack. Six-year-old Daniil  lived in the northern city of Chernihiv, which had been surrounded and bombarded by Russian forces.
Daniil and his parents were injured in mortar shelling just outside their home in a residential neighbourhood. Taken to hospital, an operation removed shrapnel pieces in his head. As yet they can’t operate on his legs where there are multiple injuries and fractures. It would be far too painful to do.
He may never walk again but he smiles because in the hospital he feels cared for.

Putin can feel safe now that he has taken out another enemy.

Daniil

Finally, there is 13-year-old Ilya Bobkov  who managed to escape with his family from Bucha just outside Kyiv, which was under Russian control for weeks. The family fled through a humanitarian corridor which, initially led them to a run down building in Kyiv.On 24 February when the fighting started, Ilya said, “I was shocked. I had expected it to be a regular day, I’d go to school, do my homework and play games. My mother came to my room and told me to pack a few things. Then we started living in our basement. It was very scary. It was hard to get through the nights.” He is totally traumatised and will bear the psychological  scars possibly for all his life.

Ilya

Once again, though, Putin can feel the strong taste of success along with the metallic taste of blood. His brave soldiers, do his bidding and the children are neutralized. He can breathe a sigh of relief.

The United Nations estimates that about two thirds of Ukraine’s 7-8 million have been displaced.
What a wonderful strategy by Putin. He is guaranteed a lasting place in history!

Elisie, Daniil, Ilya. Killed, wounded, hounded.

Prayer for the Victims of War

Merciful God,
comfort and console those who get in the way of war
and suffer the most – the women, the children, the old ones –
who are wounded and killed,
orphaned and widowed,
and left homeless and hungry.
Touch your children with compassion
that we might respond swiftly and well
to the needs of those who suffer;
we pray this in the name of Jesus our Lord
who for love of the human race, suffered on the Cross
and opened the way to a new life where all are equally loved
cared for, protected and valued.
Amen

Some of the material comes from a BBC News report,
edited and reproduced with gratitude for their careful and courageous reporting
which puts their reporters in grave danger but who nevertheless are faithful
to their calling and to the truth.

[Mr.G.]