Stories from January, February & March 2018

January

Gordie Jackson

11 min readApr 12, 2023

1. “We cannot love to live, if we cannot bear to die.” William Penn

In the turning of the year we let go of 2017 and enter into a New day, a New Year, we welcome the day, we welcome 2018

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2. New Year, New Day, New experiences (not all welcome)

I couldn’t help to notice a few posts circulating that used the New Year as an analogy for a new book. I think it went…

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3. It looked like a hairdressers but it wasn’t

A curious schoolboy enters an adult world

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4. “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” Eashoa

If we are going to worry let’s use it for good

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5. When an occasion arises to thank someone for being them, take it

The other day I read a story that prompted many thoughts. John Gorman, the writer, began by telling of a dream he held…

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6. Whoever wins gets to read the Daily Mail!

Resolving our conflicts yet expressing how we feel

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7. This earthly life is the journey, not my destination

Making sense of the Epiphany

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8. What name would define your life purpose?

What name might you be given at the end of your earthly life?

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9. Can we become too attached to our Dentists?

I could feel every scrape of the hygienist’s tools on my teeth. My mind seemed more sensitive. I remembered why people…

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10. Intimacy is about living as honest as you can to your feelings

I have just under 3 months remaining to complete a year of daily writings. Will I go deeper? Will I ensure that the…

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11. We could all benefit from the 12 steps

We may not be alcoholics but we could do with the same help

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12. Step “1. We admitted we were powerless, that our lives had become unmanageable.”

Since I posted the 12 steps for life I have been thinking about how they have worked in my life. Step 1 causes us to…

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13. Step 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

You know how it is we become conscious one day and everything is already here. We don’t wake up to nothing we wake up…

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14. Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood…

Have you noticed that these steps are written in the past tense? They read like a diary entry :

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15. Step 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

I was at the Co-Op and as I was waiting to be served I listened in on the conversation with the woman in front. I had…

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16. Step 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

It looks like I answered step 5 yesterday in responding to step 4. I did ponder on the notion of a moral inventory. I…

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17. Step 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

So having done the previous five steps we are ready for surgery, God’s surgery. I have been thinking about the word God…

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18. Step 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

I think my personality is coming to bear with these steps. I seem to be rushing ahead of myself which is often as I am…

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19. Strange places , strange feelings

Step 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all

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20. To exist in the light a shadow too must exist.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

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21. Living life to the full

Do you fall asleep at your computer while typing?

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22. Different ages but all in transition

I was with the children today. They range from 18 months to 8 years old. Kelly, a 3-year-old, doesn’t want her mum to…

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23. Whose day did you make? Who made your day?

I was out of the station and headed towards the town centre when I saw a friend coming towards me, she was going to the…

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24. Go ahead and make my day

Weaving distractions into our day

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25. Tom, my friend, the priest.

Father Charles opened his sermon with, “When someone close to us dies a bit of us dies too.” I was at the funeral mass…

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26. Where your heart is there also is your riches

Incorporating The Invitation by Oriah

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27. There is an incredible hulk just waiting to get out!

I bought the Kite Runner CD book in May or June in a library sale. I have still 2 discs to go. I mean I was driving my…

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28. Don’t make a mistake! Make plenty.

I remember years ago hearing a preacher say, “This is the day that the Lord has made and the Devil got nothing to do…

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29. Kindness opens the door and lets you in.

The first friend stood up and spoke about miracles in ‘the every day’. How holes in roofs get fixed, dripping taps stop…

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30. The Power of One

One day, One thought, One grab, one fetch, one brush, one twist, one pull, one push, one up, one down, one in, one out…

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31. Today at 3 00 pm be grateful for 3 things in your day

It doesn’t have to be 3 it just fits with the idea of 3

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32. Two people one world a moment between them

I met her in my mind. It seemed like the safest place to meet. I climbed the earth from one side and when I reached the…

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February

1. Two people one world a moment between them

I met her in my mind. It seemed like the safest place to meet. I climbed the earth from one side and when I reached the…

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2. When a photo not only captures a past moment but also a past life

You know the image of the sandcastles being washed away helped me today.

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3. One day you will be a work of art, for now, you are in progress

Saturday morning no doubt for many of us is the time to clean our dwellings. This morning I walked into Cee’s room to…

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4. What is optimism? Ask an executed man.

Being with the children today reminded me how difficult I find unstructured activities. The ages range which means what…

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5. Sing out my soul

It was as I was leaving the church that my eye caught the wooden panel which listed every vicar since its inception. It…

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6. Which half of the population are you? The one that worries for the other 50% or the other 50%?

My mind is still in this morning. I do get stuck often in the morning. It is the time of day I am most vulnerable.

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7. Seven hours twenty four minutes not twenty four seven

7/24 not 24/7

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8. Wait until the frost thaws to see

Using discernment in decision-making

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9. “I don’t know what love is — what truly loving somebody really feels like.” Kinza Kuroi

Today I stumbled on an article about love, initially Gonçalo Ferreira response and then Kinza Kuroi article to which he…

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10. Out of one bookshop into the fire

I came out of the bookshop. The shops were closing. The darkness that covers England at this time of year had already…

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11. Is Hymn singing a dying tradition?

I found myself of late singing and whistling more than usual. In the shower this morning an old school hymn came to me…

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12. It is First Day, time to reflect

Sunday gives us a chance to reflect on the week. Well, any day does but it has always been Sunday for me. Did you know…

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13. Same place, same time, different stories

We may be friends, we may be lovers, we may be colleagues, we may be brothers, but this I know we are having a…

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14. It takes strength to be weak

Transforming abuse to strength

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15. Love may be made but it is toil for the soul

Unsplash has given us writers a great resource in their photo archive. My difficulty today was deciding which one…

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16. They painted it on a wall just in case one day they would forget

Northern Ireland peace process

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17. All in the life of a day

I awoke, I slept, I awoke again, I got up.

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18. If my day was a song I would sing all day long

I went out for a sing this morning before I tidied up the last story at Starbuck’s. Ok, I accept as one friend said to…

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19. What would you die for? What do you live for?

I was aware of the Florida shooting as it flashed across TV screens however I did not connect fully with the story…

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20. The Vortex

I knew I had enjoyed last week free of some of the constraints that usually shackle me. I hadn’t thought of the show…

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21. Manna in the desert of the day

This morning once the home was quiet I sat on ‘my chair’. It is such a comfortable chair. I feel supported by it. It…

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22. Keeping our hearts soft by listening to the cries of our children

I can’t hear what they are saying as these TV screens in motorway services are always muted but I can read the screen…

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23. Stepping out our reality

I had a little bit of time this morning as I was attending a funeral.It seems to be a sign of getting older that you…

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24. We all need to laugh wherever we find ourselves

I rejoice that I have reached the weekend. Not sure what it was about the week but it was more a toil than usual. Yet…

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25. Heart is good for love but not so good for anger

I reckon if I read back over my stories love and anger would feature quite often. Yesterday evening I was waiting for…

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26. I am Spirit

I was sitting in meeting this morning as I do most Sundays when I became aware of my eyes. My eyes were shut and I was…

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27. Will the ‘Beast from the East’ snow its face?

“A snow emergency has been declared in Kent.” BBC News

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28. A message from the snow people

“The coldness drives you to find warmth and so too with the coldness of people hearts, find warmth.”

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March

1. The flame of the candle flickers in the window

A ghost story for a snowy night

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2. Changing moments, changing scenes

You know when you get those moments that are neither planned nor long? I saw a few today.

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3. The hopeless thing, the unexpected thing, the third-rate thing becomes ‘The Thing’

There is a TV advert that has remained with me since I first saw it when a young teen. It was advertising a car though…

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4. I watched Billy Graham’s funeral

I watched Billy Graham’s funeral service in the early hours of the morning. Why would I watch Billy Graham’s funeral…

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5. Be conductors to others of The power

The guy needed a God who could touch him in human form. He was struggling. He felt knocked down, the services seem to…

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6. When it is ok to fall.

I sat down on the chair, ate my supper and fell asleep. No daily story got published so I am doing it now during a…

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7. You are born of Eden, see past the illusions

Well, I mentioned that I have 26 days left in my previous story and that seems to have set my mind off thinking that I…

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8. Not so happy families

Yesterday when I was writing about what the apple might represent I did have sexual attraction ( is that lust?) running…

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9. The power will burn but you won’t

Yesterday I left you with Joseph reconciling with his family. The story goes that the whole clan moved from…

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10. We are headed for the grave, are we living to die?

I am letting my mind take me to stories and observing where it stops. I may wish to rush on but it has stopped at, ‘The…

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11. Words are like arrows in the air

I don’t think you are much different to me hence there will be stories you heard in your life that have stayed with…

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12. Be encouraged by letters not held by them

A friend stood up in meeting this morning and read the following extract from the introduction to Quaker faith &…

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13. “Do not despise the day of small things.”

It was on a train journey 30 years ago from Bangor to Portadown, Northern Ireland that I first came across the words in…

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14. Betrayal

When are you at your weakest? I do find mornings particularly weekday mornings when I first awake to be my weakest part…

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15. The test of what we have read doesn’t come in an exam it comes in how we live

I could be relaxing too much as we move toward 12 months of writing. Today at lunchtime I asked myself, “What should I…

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16. “I can stay here. There is no time. It will look after me.”

At ‘The Crust’ there is an unrealistic expectation the equivalent of which is trying to force 50 litres into 37…

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17. How do you judge?

My father was known to be a man with who you wouldn’t mess. I can’t think of anyone who I knew to be less fearless. He…

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18. Best St Patrick’s day

Ok so I am typing, it crashes, and nothing is saved. I was writing about the many meetings I attended in a week and how…

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19. The Guinness was good but the healing was even better.

At least once a year, usually around this time, I make a trip to Birmingham. I made my first trip to Birmingham in 1988…

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20. In 2018 it snowed on St Patrick’s day!

There are days that you just can’t ignore, they are imprinted in your psyche and St Patrick’s day is one of them. It…

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21. What is a good life?

A friend stood up in meeting and spoke of a colleague who recently died. She gave tribute to how he lived his life…

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22. Today is the day of Salvation

Another Monday. We start again, we write another week in the life of …. We need to break life down to years, seasons…

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23. An email arrives in your inbox. It reveals your inner wish. What does it say?

I had another one of those emails asking me for assistance. Somehow it got through to my main inbox. When this happens…

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24. Love, I have learned, is what I need and it carries me!

I just read what I wrote last night as I took what it said and went into the day.

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25. Which dog licked me on the face?

I found myself this morning in the flow of passengers exiting the Eurostar platform at St Pancras and as I saw people…

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26. Am I repeating myself?

Does there come a point when everything is said and there is nothing left to say? I am thinking that some of my stories…

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27. Love brought us back, again and again

It is at this time of year that I recall the story of Hanna. Hanna and her partner had not conceived a child despite…

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28. Where have you been? Leave your mark!

I set the Sat Nav for the Quakers in Sutton Coldfield and in twenty minutes I was out of Birmingham and unto a rural…

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29. Turning heads and tables

I was wondering around the city. I had been to it a few times, enough for some to recognise me. Now I just wanted to…

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30. “The father of all creation made this.”

We ended up taking refuge in the room that we hired at one of the many hotels in the city. Two rooms for twelve of us…

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31. Be free! Stay free!

The Passover is the high point in the Jewish year. Many people don’t seem to know the link between the Passover and my…

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32. No!

So you have known someone for a few years entrusted them into your circle and then you know that they are plotting…

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33. And then the end will come

They took me to a room. It was like a store cupboard. Everything seemed amplified like my senses were getting ready…

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34. Is there a way back from Hell?

My eyes closed and I was falling through the floor and then the earth and then I was in another place. My eyes closed…

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35. Stories make the impossible possible, so too does love

It is hard to ignore Easter Sunday even as Quakers who do not consider any day more special than another, each day is…

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