I have been away on holiday. It was one of those breaks where much of the time is mapped out by events that are happening, Sue’s sister got married at the start of the week, it was a church ladies weekend away at the end of the week.
In between we had a few days relaxing in the Lake District. Jonathan and I managed to cross of a few more Wainwright’s with a long day up Grassmoor.
So now it’s back to work.
At the bottom of a Japanese Maple tree sits a distinguished gentleman of some years, his name is Vernon Stumpy.
This is Vernon’s favourite place in the whole world. The Japanese Maple has beautiful red leaves and provides wonderful dappled shade when the sun is shining. Vernon now calls this place home, but it wasn’t always like that.
Only a few years ago Vernon had no idea that this place even existed. He was happy with his job as the head of the Gnome Protection League. He was happy travelling the country inspecting the living condition of his fellow gnomids and making sure that they were being looked after.
One day Vernon heard reports of a gnome in Lancashire that concerned him. These reports suggested that Cyril was not being treated very well.
Cyril’s arrival was also something of a surprise to us. If truth be known, gnomes would not be my first choice in garden ornamentation, so Cyril had been somewhat neglected and Vernon had picked up on this via the gnome grapevine. It wasn’t that we didn’t like Cyril, we just didn’t know how to look after him. So Vernon stayed to instruct us in the best way to look after a gnome, it was a bit like having our very own Super Nanny.
Initially Vernon only stayed to be a comfort to Cyril, but our humble little garden soon found a special place in Vernon’s heart and he no longer wanted to travel the world.
Vernon’s choice of travel arrangement may have something to do with his desire to settle down. He arrived at Teil Green courteously of the Royal Mail, which didn’t look to me like a very comfortable way to travel. He was accompanied by the paperwork from the Gnome Protection League so that we knew where he had come from. A few days later someone from the League called to make sure that he had arrived. We also received regular SMS texts from them checking that all was going well.
Sadly Cyril is no longer with us. One day a bunch of garden giants where playing with a giants ball. Cyril had no chance to get out of the way. With Cyril gone Vernon couldn’t stand to leave this place he had now come to call home.
Occasionally Jimmy and Grandad, but more often just Grandad, go and visit Vernon. Grandad and Vernon love to talk about the good old days when life was simpler. They love to enjoy the dappled shade and reflect upon all the change that they have seen. Sometimes Grandma bakes a cake, the two of them love good honest home cooking.
Vernon is very special to Grandad. Grandad hopes that he will always have a friend close by.
This kind of follows on from my last post on Skilled Medical Staff, but I make no apologies for that.
I have been struck recently by the variety of skills that abound.
For weeks now the shower in our en suite (yes we have an en suite) has been dripping. The shower is actually against one of the walls in the bedroom so we could hear it dripping. Most of the time this hasn’t been a problem, but both Sue and I have had a few nights where we haven’t been sleeping as heavily as normal. In our lighter sleep all we could hear was the stead drip… drip… drip… of the shower. It was starting to drive us nuts. I finally phoned the manufacturers of the shower to find out how to get it fixed, they supplied me with a part and a skilled engineer.
Yesterday the engineer came and fitted the new part (he wasn’t supposed to come yesterday, but that’s another story). It took him less than 30 minutes to fit. He knew what he was doing and just got on with it. Now the shower is at peace. No drip… drip… drip… just peace, it’s lovely.
We had to get the person with the skills to come along, his skills were worth it.
Over the weekend we had a classical quartet performing at church. They were all highly skilled musicians who gave us a wonderful evening. We didn’t have to worry about whether they were up to the job, they were skilled. It was great to be able to relax into the music and feel it’s movement.
We are doing some large scale building work at church. While the classical quartet were practicing on Saturday I spent a little time watching two men roofing our new building. It was amazing to see how they skipped up and down the steps and along the roof carrying heavy tiles.
I marvel at these skills because I don’t have these skills. I’m thankful that others do. I would be stuck without them, but more than that, my life would be a lot duller without them.
The Bible talks a lot about the different skills in the church and how they are all needed. The most famous passage is one that compares the church to a body.
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
A whole load of different skills, but all part of the same body.
I have to admit to sometimes being the hand saying to the ear – “can you get one with something”. The Bible tells us that those who are listen have as much value as those who run around and do. It’s not just coincidence that these words about the body are followed by some of the greatest words about love ever written.
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