Above all else

I am, by nature, an optimist.  I tend to trust people, because I believe that they have good intentions.  I tend to look forward to the future rather than dwell on the past, because I believe whatever happened, even if it wasn't pleasant, was for the best.  I tend to favour action rather than contemplation, because I believe we can fix things along the way and things will turn out fine in the end. For these reasons, I enjoy the New Year.  It's a chance to look forward, review and reset my goals, and start new habits.  Some goals are recurring - for example, I intend to keep up my "one half marathon every quarter" target and to write at least 25 of these blogs! But because I tend to look forward, I sometimes forget to look back - not in regret, but in thankfulness.  It was pointed out to me yesterday that Black Friday is the day immediately after Thanksgiving.  Kind of sad that the very day meant to give thanks for all we have received, is followed immediately

We just had our Christmas party for the many friends we've made in our monthly bread run, and it was great!  It's been said many times that in giving, the giver gains as much.  It's true.  I'm not sure who was happier, those of us who organised the party, or those of us for whom the party was organised.  Doesn't matter, we all enjoyed it :) Having said that, I don't deny that we were certainly busy in having to put together the party.  Giving does require effort.  We did worry about what food to get, what activities to organise, whether people would come (and later, whether too many people would come!), what we should give as presents, whether they would like the party...! But the party was a gladsome and joyful time, not only because of that night's effort, and not only because of the previous two weeks' effort in organising it, but in the many years we have spent in much less glamorous settings - bussing in after a long day's work, hauling

We're lucky enough to get to travel for holidays, and with some experience, we've learned that we prefer travelling on our own, rather than with a tour group.  But for some places, it's difficult to travel on your own, like this year's holiday in Israel.  This is the second time we've been there, but even then, it's not that easy to get to the places of interest.  We also happened to be travelling with our parents and with church friends, so it made sense to travel in a group.  And if you've been on tours before, you know that such holidays often revolve around life on the tour bus!  Lots and lots of time on the tour bus! This being a trip to Israel with church and family, one of the expectations was to have not just a fun time, but also a time of learning and reflection.  It's quite amazing to be in so many of the places that the Bible records, and see with our own eyes that the Bible is not a storybook - it really is a history book, of real p