I thought that I would use the next two or three blogs during the summer to introduce myself a little more before the busy month of September begins.
In early July we held a training day in London for all new District Forum representatives. By way of introducing ourselves, and hopefully as a prompt to remember each others names I suggested that we tell each other something about ourselves that was different and maybe a little quirky.
My quirkiness began a number of years ago on a family holiday to the beautiful Isle of Skye. Anyone who has visited Skye will know that, having left the main roads behind, sheep and cattle have the right to roam. They seem to take great pleasure in standing in the centre of single track roads, staring at you, chewing contentedly until eventually they move aside and allow you to pass by!
I was fascinated by the number of cottage craft workshops, woodwork, art, weaving, candle making, jewellery making, to name but a few. The one that really impressed me was the art of spinning. I have always enjoyed knitting as a hobby, but to take a raw fleece and work with it to produce all manner of things seemed somehow very special. I returned full of enthusiasm for ‘all things woolly’.
A few days ago, as my birthday treat, David and I went to ‘Fibre East’, an event dedicated to working with wool and other fibres such as alpaca, angora and silk – the woolly friend pictured above went home feeling much cooler and we came home with his woollen coat!
It now needs to be washed in stages and thoroughly dried – somehow I don’t think I can ask for Gideon’s experience resulting in a dry fleece while the surrounding ground is wet!
Then Gideon said to God, “Don’t be impatient with me, but let me say one more thing. I want to try another time with the fleece. But this time let the fleece stay dry, while the dew drenches the ground.”
God made it happen that very night. Only the fleece was dry while the ground was wet with dew.
Judges 6:39-40
