It's been a busy time here and Chez Stanbury and the twists and turns of life are more twisted and turn-y than a vines on our growing pumpkins. Lots has happened but its all more than words allow so I guess I shall start at the very beginning and see how it all ends up.
February was a rather eventful month all around. We had some early mornings at the beginning of the month as DS and I set out early so he could take photos for his GCSE work (and mainly because he wants to). He is doing well with this - more on it later
A bit later in Frebruary we had one of our first disasters of the year in the discovering of some kind of drain blockage. After a couple of visits from our water supplier, and then dyno rod we worked out that the drain outside our utility was actually a soakaway drain that had collapsed. This meant that it was not a suitable drain for laundry water as we seen when the hole we dug filled up with gross blue Persil water. We dont use it but DS21 does, so we had to remedy this part of the situation too. The initial thought was that we would have to dig into the floor of our conservatory, but the end result was a drain fitted to the toilet to accept the laundry waste. This isnt always possible but our drains here are mixed drains. Once done, the mammouth task of repairing the soakawat drain began. First with a 10 foot hole for the pipe to be drained into, then a backwards tracking of pipework to the break which was by the tree. After this, new turf was placed and walls repaired leaving us a while without use of the garden fully. It was an expensive repair.
This was followed in short succession with a complete boiler break in March. Following a leak and an assessment by our dear plumber it was ruled an unfit boiler and needed to be replaced. It was also noted that incorrect drainage was in place too and this required DS floor to be lifted to replace pipework. So began the emptying of the room and the expensive replacement. On lifting the floor, the carpet was rotten after being in situ for 18 years and the walls got damaged so cue a Changing Rooms style makeover for his Lordship.
And with all the drama there was a little bit more when ds managed to break his fingers whilst helping DH load up a ton of compost. This set him back for a good few weeks.
I did manange to get to grips with some cooking - fruit cake and two ingredient bagels. Both highly delicious.
We were very grateful to get chance to spend time with grand daughters earlier in the year for a few days and am looking forward to getting more chances thoughout the year. I am blessed to have my other lovely grandkids close by so I am not completely bereft but its lovely to see them all when I can.
Mid March there was an accidental purchase of nine bags of plants at a plant sale - ooops!
And during my birthday month I was duly reminded that my son is now much much taller than my 5ft 6 self. Sigh.
In April we ended our History topic with a visit to the Magna Carta in Salisbury Cathedral. We were moved by it in various ways. And especially stunned at the neat and tiny writing it contained.
Throughout the year DS21 managed to have three car accidents; with his last being the most serious although he still mananged to walk away with no major injuryes. The result was a new car for him. In the early summer I needed a new car for me for different reasons
In late April we finished our Marine Animals Science with a visit to the local aquarium
At the end of April my dear auntie died after a horrendously drawn out illness. Her funeral was very sad and moving but I have hope I'll see her again after she spoke of seeing Jesus in Heaven in her last hours, so I am hoping she came to faith in those last moments. Now to keep praying for the others in my family who have left or never recieved Jesus.
With the hole in the garden filled in we re-turfed, built some walls and rebuilt the chicken coop. This seemed great until three days later builders came to tell us they were tearing down our back fence and shed. Sigh it was a real stress. It went on until last month and really violated our privacy for the whole time.
In May we had a happy time when we got a new kitten. We have felt a bit forlorn since our Tiger-Cat died a few years ago so when we heard our daughters neighbors' cat had kittens we were intrigued. A few weeks later and meet Toby-Cat our brand new little boy. 😻
We have had lots of family and frienship drama over these past months which have left us a bit fraught. As my children age I am unable to divulge the struggles these days as we work out how to work through things, deal with challenged and manage issues. We are continuing in prayer thoughout and out church family are walking with us through it all.
Well what an interesting theological adventure I am having at the minute. Over the last few months God has really began to challenge me on some of my thoughts, some of the ways I hold my opionions and even how I live my Christian life. It began with an off hand comment at church that I initially took umbridge with.
The speaker then said something along the lines of, "You dont need to know everything. Or anything! You dont need to know what is going on or what it all means. You just need to believe."
WELL!!!
Upon first hearing it, I first suspected a misrepresentation of Scripture. After all, there are TONS of scriptures in the Bible about learning, studying and understanding Gods word. Huff, huff, strop, strop. Sigh.
ANYWAY... in the week that followed this, various other sources began to 'speak to me' further.
Just a side note. I have quite often found God to be his most 'vocal' at giving me insight and understanding when I am reading books, both secular and Christian, when I watch shows, both secular and Christian, when I see YouTube videos, and even at times when I read a blog or substack, or listen to a podcast, again from both secular and Christian circles.
The above video was based on the article from G3 Ministeries called Convictions and Charity: Perspectives on Eschatology. These two items really gave me pause for thought really gave me pause for thought. Am I high and mighty? Do I think my ways are right and look down on others?
The same week my podcast app popped up with this episode again from the Literary Life Podcast: Witches, Wizards, and Magic, Oh My!! Which did a great deep dive into the concerns about exposing chuldren to these topics, showing how the underlying gospel message can and does shine through. It affirmed further for me the freedom we have in Christ not to judge the choices other sound Christians have made.
Around Christmas time this video was sent to me and it gave me much thought. I have friends in both camps of this view point. It really made me think about my position again. I followed all the offered lines of research, reading for myself all the different resources and evidence. I ALSO looked at my Christmas habits; are they God-honoring and in-keeping with joy of the birth of our Saviour. In doing all this it reaffirmed the questions above. Checking my attitude, checking my heart position and remembering that there are many ways to 'Christian' which are still doctrinally sound.
Gnosticism (from the Greek gnosis, meaning "knowledge") was one of the earliest heresies the Church battled. It taught that salvation came through hidden knowledge available only to a spiritual elite. Gnostics believed the physical world was evil and that secret insight, not open faith in Christ, brought true deliverance.
Surprisingly, many modern "truther" movements echo this ancient pattern as Gnosticism:
"We know what’s really going on."
"The masses are blind."
"The system is a lie; only the awake remnant understands."
These are not merely critical or discerning thoughts; they often carry spiritual elitism, fear, and pride. It distracts from the true gospel, which is public, accessible, and Christ-centered.
It leads to deeper and deeper holes to travel down to learn more and more, all of which leads further and further away from the truth of the gospel. With every "new" discovery in this conspiracy world, there is now something else to discover, keeping the truther in constant search of something new, something hidden, something very few know.
It's a carrot on a stick that can never be captured. When that conspiracy falls through, they change the timeline. Everything that happens has hidden meanings and agendas. Nothing is real anymore; keeping the believer a constant skeptic of everything and ultimately a skeptic of even the truth in Christ."
WELL!!!!
Again the questions came. The subtle, small voice proding my conscience and asking me... Am I constantly looking at world events and trying to fit them to scripture? Do I think I know more or am better than those who know less (or choose to know/seek less)? Do I think I have more 'knowledge' or, worse, more "discernment" or "secret" knowledge- than others around me? Do I think things are obvious or that I can see things? It was uncomfortable reading
After another week this came up on my news feed.
It felt like another confirmation that I need to rethink where I am putting my energies. Revelation is such an interest to me so it was quite a surprise that it worked out that I should be hearing this.... Almost as if he knew me! Almost as if this video was JUST FOR ME! (as well as also being for everyone else. Obviously)
Then came this saying in a meme or some such quote:
In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas
(In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity)
St Augustine
God, who already knows what's on my mind, who knows how I'll hear something that another person wouldnt maybe even think about teaches me always in this way.
Finally, this week I read an article from Joy Clarkson entitled Not Everyone Is Everything. I don't usually read her content because it in a slightly different and more academic slant to my preference, but I felt compelled to read it. The part I felt spoke loudest was:
"Now, I don’t mean to imply that people can’t have views or profound reactions to what seems to be a sort of lightning bolt moment in American society. But there’s something odd to me in the way that people suddenly take on the office of forensics investigator, judge, jury, and even executioner
We all have offices in life, people to whom we are accountable, relationships that constrain and motivate us. But we are not all, and do not need to be, everything. And I think there is something important in realising and accepting that. I think that when we forget this, and when we spend hours on the internet acting in the roles of forensic investigators, doctors, judges, ministers, or any other number of offices for which we are not trained and in which we are not accountable, we become distracted from thoughtfully and faithfully fulfilling the offices to which we are clearly called and which we do actually have a duty to fulfil."
It may seem unrelated to what else has been happening but what came to mind almost straight away was 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, more specifically verse 11 but the whole thing gives more context.
9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,10 for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more,11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
And again it reminded me that I am not built to live in a global world...just the little bit of earth I am living in. I dont need to be involved in every little thing.
Coming full circle in the last few days it has been the following verse, which was everywhere:
"and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven"."MATTHEW 18: 3
And by 'everywhere' I mean it was in two bible devotionals, it was bought up by a person in our womens group, and it was on my bible app. This is how it often works: a verse will just be out there and when I already have things on my mind to ponder it will speak to me. Another person may not get much from it on the occasion of seeing it, still another will hear it, or interpret it in a different way or with a different slant. This is how the Bible works and how God works actually.
In Conclusion:
I think it means for me: don't be looking at others and judging their journey. It means dropping any pride at the knowledge I have. It says don't care so much about being right; don't care so much about seeking and finding all the 'right' answers. I think it is saying to fully rely on God and not stress about all the external knowledge I have. I think it is saying I dont need to know everything. And I think I have to disregard all for the sake of coming to God without preconcieved knowledge and ideas but with a childlike heart: open and eager and accepting. I love how God speaks to me and shapes me using not JUST the Bible but also all parables and illustrations if you will, of media, storytelling and other great resources.
As the top picture says, being old enough to read fairy tales again, to see the 'True Myth' (as Lewis and Tolkien would say),
And there you have it - a sermon preached to me in many parts.
“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” – Lauren DeStefano
This season has passed in a blur and I know I’ve said that a lot this year.
But it had also passed in a blaze of glorious colour. We’ve really seen the crisp cool mornings leading to warm bright days and it’s this ‘magic’ of Gods design that is the recipe for the beautiful colours. The reds, the auburns, the burgundys, the oranges, the yellows… I love them all. I even cried this year; not at the nature but at the creator of all this splendor. Just for me! And also for everyone else. Sigh. It was just SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
Nature has always been my love language, and also through music and stories. This is how God speaks to me and how I see meaning and beauty. These are the quiet ways that really resonate with me. I never really thought I was artsy - I am too logical and rational for that - but actually the older I get the more I discover these ways that unlock God and help me understand Him more.These ways dont 'make sense' and cant be 'rationalised' and yet give so much deapth to my theology and present deeper ways to think about Him.
Of course pondering any goodness, truth and beauty can never fail to reveal God.
Anyway, I decorated early this year despite originally intending to wait until the equinox. I think it is time to accept that it just isn't my way to wait.
These beautiful ways are so wonderful to help earmark the seasons and draw attantion to the qualities God created in each. To others it may seem like needless, pointless decor, but for me it tells the time; sets the atmosphere; ushers in the mood of that season. It tells me a story of Gods plans for us: A time for everything.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.
I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.
And as we moved through this season our days were filled with many things. The last of our harvest- including the cutest mama and baby carrot.
A pewter workshop in Devon complete with a sleepover camp out in the van.
A moving and poignant trip to see The Lost Words exhibition in bath. I actually cried.
Our old driveway was finally replaced thanks to some gifted bricks and DH time.
October loomed with cool clear days, the aformentioned georgous colors and pumpkin picking time with both friends and family.
And of course this beautiful, wonderful, kind, happy, musical girl turned 12!
In November there was a trip to Southampton to watch The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe at the Theatre in Southampton. This was also the season of the sick auntie - I dont know how long this season will continue.
Homemade 'Hokey Pokey'- or honeycomb- was made as per our tradition. Its been a while though. It turned out well.
And we finished with the making of the Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding.
