Changing your title.

I recently decided to change my blog title. It took me til 2.00am but I finally found out how. The problem now, is that this is the title to the blog that says I can't change the title.
Change can be both exciting and daunting. I changed to a red jumper the other day and then saw a photograph of me wearing it. I would have returned the jumper to the shop immediately but I had worn it. I know people who have worn jumpers for one evening and then taken them back to the shop. That is wrong, However it is completely understandable if they look as bad in their jumper as I did in mine. The other reason I couldn't take it back to the shop was that I picked a printer up whilst wearing it and poured black printer ink all down the front of my new red jumper. Black printer ink is difficult to remove.
In 2013 I have made a mess of many things. I wont go into detail or this will cease being a blog and turn into a very long book.  Some of the things were easily remedied or easily forgotten some of them weren't.
As a Christian I believe in forgiveness and a new beginning. A New Year tends to be a time for looking back as well as forward but can I encourage you to especially look forward. The past is gone. The red jumper is a lesson learned, I don't need to rehearse it or repeat it. I am about to go out. I might buy a blue jumper. Blue is my favourite colour and generally speaking I look slightly less huge in darker colours.
I wish you a happy new year. My wish will probably not come true. Some happy things will happen and some sad things will happen. Some successes will occur and some failures will occur. As I write this I am reminded of some verses in the Bible written by Paul to the people who lived in Philippi, 

  
"All the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ - God's righteousness.
I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself.
I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back."

Click and Collect.

I wish I knew how to stop this blog being called Christmas. There are so many things I don't know.
I don't  know how to click and collect. I know how to click. I just completely forgot I had, and that meant I didn't go and collect. It's an ill wind however that blows nobody any good, (whatever that might mean.)
I did eventually go and collect, except I didn't actually collect when I went. I had parted with £26.24 for a coat which I had no recollection of ordering. On boxing day my daughter wondered if I had changed my mind about getting her a coat for Christmas. I asked which coat. She reminded me I had clicked and was going to collect. After ten days, the company decide you are not going to collect so they return your item to their warehouse and eventually your money to your your account (I hope.) I went onto my click and collect information and the company had not returned the coat to the warehouse, it was 'awaiting collection' in store. I went to 'collect'  so that I could immediately return the coat and receive a refund in person. An assistant gave me the coat all wrapped in its grey plastic package. A more experienced assistant said I couldn't have the coat and receive a refund because ten days were up and the coat would be returned to the warehouse. I explained that my account said the coat was awaiting collection and here I was collecting it. The lady clicked on my account and sure enough I was telling the truth. I had done the click bit right and although I was late, here I was fulfilling the collect part. The grey bag containing my coat lay within easy reach on the counter. I didn't want the coat any more because my daughter had already done her own clicking and got the self same coat for £18.00 in the sale. (That's the ill wind I mentioned) If I received a refund at the point of collection and the system recorded that I had not collected the coat they might refund me at the point of the click as well as at the point of collect and clearly that would never do. By now I was somewhat confused. I left the store with only the clicking still in tact. Hopefully the system will rectify my account.
As I am still calling this blog Christmas even though it isn't and I don't know what to click to stop it, let me mention that so many people click on Christmas but don't collect. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus, but it's surprising how many people don't bother to collect it. It's all there, it's paid for, you can have it, God wont send it back to the warehouse, so you can collect it any time, I think the New Year would be a really good time to collect, I've discovered that delaying can make things complicated,

Happy .....erm

Happy.......erm?


I have invented a greeting for the awkward few days between Christmas and New Year when you aren't quite sure how to greet people - "Happy Betwixtmas"
Life tends to be fairly mundane for most of us, so when we have two highs in the space of eight days we can get a bit stuck as to what to do on the four days in between. The joy of Christmas for me, extends before and after Christmas day.  God coming to be "with me" has given me a reason to be joyful every day. I'm not pretending that no day ever seems mundane. I'm not trying to tell you that I look forward to yet another wash load and going shopping for milk and bread again - there's a certain level of the mundane in all our lives. But in my heart and soul I know that I am loved by God. That my wash loads matter to an almighty and eternal deity is a wonder, but I believe it to be true. Eternal life isn't mundane, so even amid the ordinariness of daily duties my spirit can sing, my heart can be thankful, my soul can know peace. So Happy Betwixtmas and may you come to understand the love of God that bridged the gap between a pointless existence and one full of hope and joy.