JULIET'S MUSINGS

  I've always loved archways... Walking through cloisters for instance,  or whilst wandering through ruined abbeys with arches that have survived wars and weather, or crossing the threshold of an ancient doorway, I get the same feeling when passing through a cascading purple wisteria arbour in an old garden, or little gateways with a sweet sweep of an arch overhead. Somehow they convey a blessing that I love to experience. Some people speak of their experience of portals, spiritual doorways that lead you from one dimension to another, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad... For me there is but one Portal and I found it in the One who says 'I am the Door, if anyone enters by me he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.'   When Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago, he opened the most cosmic and life-changing portal that there is.  He opened the way for man to have a real relationship with God, instead of trying to meet Him from a distance, ...

  All things by immortal power Near or far Hiddenly To each other linked are That you cannot stir a flower Without the troubling of a star. Francis Thompson 

  I love watching my antique spinning wheel turning,  even though I   have no idea how to use it! And I love pondering how everything in life goes round in circles, not in straight lines... In fact we're going round in circles the whole time, the earth spinning every 24 hours, whilst its circumventing the sun every year. Some say that the whole universe is turning! And every single created thing is made up of atoms, within which a circle dance between proton, neutron and electron is endlessly being performed - the trinity Life Force of God stamped deeply into His creation. In our lives too, we travel in seasons and circuits, whereby we pass through similar situations and experiences again and again. The scenery looks familiar but with each revisit we hopefully gain more understanding of ourselves, of others and of life. We notice something different in the landscape that we hadn't seen before, gain new perspective. Like a pebble thrown into a pond, each ripple widens...