REVISITED

A reblog of the post 'MIRACLE' 5 years on from its original publication.

A couple of days ago I had started to unpack the nativity set in my living room and was thinking about another Christmas season of using the broken one armed Jesus ornament as the centerpiece.

As I was unwrapping the individual figurines (I bubblewrap my nativity stuff) I unwrapped what I thought was just one of the smaller models, maybe one of the sheep but it wasn’t.

There it was, a brand new unbroken baby Jesus!

For the last couple of Christmases I have griped about how stores don’t sell individual nativity pieces (and nobody on ebay seems to either) and asked around everywhere to get a replacement. No such joy, until this recent comeuppance.

I won’t question how this mystery replacement model found its way into a sealed up cardboard stable and twisted itself in bubblewrap at the bottom of a large decorations box…

Fact is, if I actually bought a replacement Jesus or had one given to me I would have remembered something like that. There also is no way anyone would have gone to so much trouble to plant this on me either considering how I store my decorations very tightly.

To me, this is an unexpected Christmas blessing and miracle. I feel this is certainly a small happy event I have to share with all I know.

God has a great and generous sense of humour.

SIBLING

A year has passed and I’ve been planning this blog for a while now. It feels like the last 12 months have come and gone quickly. 2013 has been surreal with a mixture of hit and miss events.

Losing a sibling so suddenly just doesn’t add up. A large part of my history will not continue into my present nor future, but I intend to make his legacy continue. 32 years just does not go away.

I’ll never know what truly happened or in detail the circumstances of why - just that it happened. All I know is that I have to think of the present and not dwell too much on what I don’t know or should know.

What I do know is - what’s been broken, can be repaired. Michael would not have wanted me to play the wounded soldier and to instead buckle down to what is important.

This year picked up when Lincoln came into the world. Whilst new-life does not replace the old, Lincoln has been a blessing and helped me refocus. I would have loved for him to have met his uncle, but I still have plenty of fun childhood stories to tell. Mikes name will still be firmly in the picture.

I will put on that old Bristol Rovers scarf, reflect on good times and take today as it comes. If I feel joy for whatever reason, I shouldn’t feel guilt alongside it. Even though today is about loss, I still have many blessings to count.

Rest easy, baby brother.

BEAR

This years very touching John Lewis Christmas advert. They really pulled out the stops this year!

 

John Lewis 'The Bear & The Hare' - The Making Of from Blink on Vimeo.