Firsts Part Deux

This week, there has been a truly amazing and inspirational first ...

For the first time in Kent the Youth Service has built an outdoor classroom, thats right an outdoor classroom!!
It's the first of its kind in the Youth Service and the first of its kind in Kent. What makes it even more amazing is that it was constructed in a week and was built entirely by young people with support from youth workers. If that doesn't promote a postitive image of young people I don't know what does.

Over five days (including a bank holiday) young people came together, and constructed this most amazing building. When they started the ground was just a field and by today it was a structure complete with a screen, a sedum roof, planters filled with herbs and attractent plants for indigenous wildlife, bird boxes, tables and feeders. All of which had been constructed by hand. All the materials that had been used were either from sustainable, donated or reclaimed.

AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING

(pictures will follow)

Worry

The prompt from Sunday Scribblings for this week is entitled "Worry"... so here goes.

At the moment there are a lot of things on my mind which give me cause to worry. The first and foremost being that I simply don't devote enough time to God, I mean I try but I always find something else to get in the way. The second worry is that since I started my new job, I don't seem to have enough time to spend with my wonderful husband Richard, he says he understands but I feel as if our relationship is going down the pan. My third worry is connected to the second in that I don't ever seem to have enough "me time", the house is a mess, the garden is neglected and the animals well if I see them at all I'm lucky, my friends who are they? It all feels as if its getting to be too much and then I worry that if I give it all up we won't be able to survive, what with the mortgage, the bills and all the other things we need to spend money on.

I suppose that this could seem a little self- centred but its not meant that way at all, I do worry about my family both close and far away, I worry about the state of our planet, the many crises that occur on a daily basis and I wish that I could spend longer trying to do something to help everybody and everything. But I know that I'm only human, I have limitations and perhaps I should spend time trying to sort out the things in my own garden so to speak before trying to help anyone else.

Disconnected

The thing I find most frustrating about disconnected is not being able to access the Internet.

When Richard and I met I only used the Internet for study and then very rarely. I had never seen a chat room, I did not have an e-mail account and Facebook did not exist. As the Internet revolution took off I vowed that it would not rule my life, that I would not fall into the trap of being at is beck and call, how untrue that all seems now. Without the Internet, I can no longer seem to function in my daily life, it rules everything that I do. If I am to work from home, I need it to access files and my e-mail account, if I want to talk to friends I need it to Skype or type, most of my computer games seem to require some form of Internet connectivity.

Use of the Internet now seems to have become as much a part of my daily life as brushing my teeth or eating some food. I want to know what happened to that girl who was not driven by the need to sit enslaved to a machine and type, I'm sure she's around here somewhere. I feel that we through the use of the internet have now become more and more devoid from human contact, yes we have endless possibilities and more scope than ever before, but what of our need for affection, compassion and love? Is all we now have perpetuated through the machine?

My poem reflects my thoughts what do you think?

Disconnected

Desiring more than is healthy
Invisible people on your screen
Sensing you are remote
Studiously composing your next response
Cut off from reality
Out of touch with humanity
Needlessly searching for company
Ever present adoration
Cybernetically communicating
Taken and shut off
Enslaved by the machine
Dying to get yet another fix.

Follow

Catching up on a few Sunday Scribblings from the past few weeks, I have another poem to add to the 24th April post entitled Following.

The Choice

I've chosen to follow you,
I've given my life to you,
I am yours, and you are mine,
In your love, I will shine.

Your love surrounds me
Your love it keeps me strong
With you, I can't go wrong.

I've decided to walk your way,
Each and every single day,
I am yours, and you are mine,
Without your love I was blind.

Your love surrounds me
Your love it keeps me strong
With you, I can't go wrong.

I've walked your path,
I know this love will last,
You are mine, and I am yours,
Jesus, Saviour, Lord and Christ

Confession

This weeks Sunday Scribblings is entitled "Confession"

For me confession has different levels of meaning, in both a secular and spiritual sense. There is the need to be open and honest with people, admission of past mistakes, when embarking upon a relationship, there is always the dilemma of do I tell or not? As a christian I find that all those things which are upon my heart are not always able to be verbalised can be put upon God and then there is comfort to be found.

I wrote this poem back in university, when I was going through a difficult time with my then boyfriend, he blamed me for not understanding how he felt, or what he needed. In a way I guess it was my confession

A Million Miles

I did not know how you felt,
I did not know of your pain,
How could I understand
When you were a million miles away?

I did not come when you called,
I did not respond when you cried,
How could I know
When you were a million miles away?

I did not understand your grief,
I did not sense your longing,
How could I see
When you were a million miles away?

I did not know then how you felt,
I still do not know now,
How can I see,
When you are a million miles away?

The second poem here is one that I wrote only a few months ago and I suppose it is a confession, about a person I once knew, and how I still feel about them now.

Once Again

Once again, I find myself thinking of you, dreaming of you,
Wondering what my life could have been if you were still here with me.
Once again, I find myself wanting you, needing you,
Trying to comprehend why you have gone.
Once again, I find myself feeling you, seeing you,
Searching for the truth behind the lie.

Once again, I find myself sitting here, laying here,
Hearing your voice upon the breeze.
Once again, I find myself standing here, waiting here,
Glimpsing you upon a distant shore.
Once again, I find myself crying here, screaming here,
Seeing you turn around and leave.

Once again, I see myself, watching you, following you,
Trying to put everything right.
Once again, I see myself in front of you, behind you,
Needing to become closer.
Once again, I see myself, near you, with you,
Part of your life, Once again.