Porcelain
teapots, spiders, difficult people, antiques – what do they have in common?
You
have to be very, very careful with them all – that when you handle them their
legs don’t alarmingly come off or their spouts get chipped or their surfaces
scratched or their feelings wounded.
It’s
what Lao Tsu said – ruling a great nation is like cooking a small fish. That
thing.
Fragility.
Timeless. Ubiquitous.
Thank you so much for your comment, Emilio. That's so nice of you.
ReplyDeleteI haven't published it here because it seemed to be a personal note, but thank you.
This makes me very shallow I know but I would rather deal with a difficult person than a spider. My theory is that God sends them into my house to allow my husband to be ultra manly. I have no evidence to support that theory.
ReplyDeleteThat was what began this post! A spider in the kitchen. Alice and I both had a half-hearted go at catching it, then Hebe said she'd do it. She got a glass to trap it, and the notepad for shopping lists to slide underneath. She was ever so careful, but when she'd got the sider contained safely under the glass, she noticed a small leg left behind on the worktop. That set us off talking about Things You Have To Be Careful With.
ReplyDeletex
Loved your book In celebration of simplicity. My spiritual journey is moving me on and leaving me increasingly frustrated with the Church and Ministry. I noticed you must have a story to tell as you have been called on to different aspects of ministry in your life.
ReplyDeleteThanks & God Bless
Fiona.
Thank you, Fiona - I'm so glad you liked the book! And, ooh yes, I have had an interesting life! xx
ReplyDeleteMissing you more than a little, my friend.
ReplyDeleteAh - I haven't forgotten you!
ReplyDeleteYou have been especially in my prayers.
We have been in an oddly bottle neck time. The Badger and I were responsible for the seminars in a writers' day conference last Saturday, which took a lot of preparation. We are doing the same next Saturday at a librarian's conference - but a different topic, so more preparation! Tomorrow I am conducting a funeral; I've got it mostly ready but must write the eulogy today. This morning is a Servants With Jesus meeting. I am scrambling to get a book finished for an end-of-November deadline, so every day I can make the time I have to knock out a thousand words or so. There've been a couple of magazine articles to write and another coming up. And so it goes . . . Plus, the book I've set aside next year to write has started queueing up in my head, which is kind of good but 'a bit previous' as they say in Yorkshire!
But after tomorrow's funeral there should be time to write a blog post, and once we've finished gadding around England on trains to conferences, I'll be back to just writing my book, so should have some headspace for a blog post. Though, mind you, the builders are coming in at the end of the month . . .
Hope you are doing okay and your knee is healing, pain manageable. xxx