Happy Birthday!

Auntie Peggy - my special aunt - is 80 today - I made her a card, and also sent the purse I embroidered a few weeks ago. She was really thrilled - having had her purse stolen last week [I never knew that till we spoke on the phone this evening!]

She has had plenty of cards and good wishes, which is lovely. She's a great Christian lady and I know it has been hard for her since my Uncle died. She is struggling to cope with her new hearing aid.

I've thought a lot about age today.

Bob and I took the communion service at one of our Care Homes this afternoon. The ladies were, for the most part, very appreciative- although some struggled to stay awake for the twenty minute service! Last week I did a hymn service at another home - and I am always struck by how positive the staff are, resolutely cheerful and bright - even when some residents are behaving more like recalcitrant toddlers or sulky teenagers. I wondered what these folk were like thirty or forty years ago - were they busy Mums, career women, wives and homemakers?

One lady today said she was just visiting - she really came from Ilford. I told her that I had been born in Romford, and that my Auntie Peggy belonged to a church in Ilford. She was SO pleased to talk to someone who knew were she came from! I guess when you are in the middle of Leicestershire, Essex does seem a long way away.

After the service, Bob and I visited a family in the village whose 18 year old daughter died suddenly on Friday of meningitis. It was incredibly sad, and my thoughts and prayers are with them. The parents allowed her organs to be donated - and a number of people now have life because of that. I can only admire them for that - in their grief, they wanted others to benefit from their loss if it were possible. That girl will not grow up and grow old - their memories will always be of a bright, beautiful teenager just starting at Uni.

Two weeks ago at the War Memorial, we sang Watts' great hymn "O God our help in ages past" based on Psalm 90, and today I was thinking of other verses from that Psalm

The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Whether we live eighty years or just eighteen, may we learn to gain a heart of wisdom - and may we sing for joy because of the unfailing love of the Lord.