How quickly a journey passes as you near the end. I offer you the next instalment of my random thoughts, thank you for staying with me.

30th

Stand still and listen
what do you hear – the sound of peace or does misery draw near
hounding your senses

stand still and look
with all that you have be aware of the beauty
surrounding you be glad

31st

Did Mary stand with Joseph
with her children by her side trying to decipher the enigma
in their lives

How did their first born son
become so difficult to read alone within the mountains now
but just what did he need

32nd

He wanted them to understand
his time on earth so short but what a journey what a life
just miracles to share

just miracles and prayer and angst
wisdom from the heart wisdom mixed with love and faith
but mostly love

33rd

Passion – what are we to make of it
Passion Sunday – if we do nothing then does that make it
meaningless

Meaningless only
if the last person standing does nothing and walks away
someone will stand up someone must

34th

An owl swooped by
early morn in every way a gift the steadfast sun but bitter wind
April in the shires

the long drear winter
no snow just damp and dull and blackly cloudy sky
we long for warmth

35th

My favourite oak tree
still no green just a thickening of its branches as it prepares
for awakening

just as the disciples
didn’t know what they were waiting for
but it was Awakening

Very best wishes – Denny Bradbury

Dear Reader – thank you for staying with me through the journey of Lent in 2017 – quite a different world from two thousand years ago – or is it? here is my latest offering – random thoughts as ever.

26th

Did you wake up cold
stiff and hungry from your nightly prayers did the stones bend to your form
were you afraid

were there any signs of spring
did nature offer just one morsel of colour in a flower
to give hope

27th

I see the blackthorn
flowers so white they hurt your eyes in their wakening from the
dull brown hedge

small oases of green
hedgerows coming to life after a winter of retreat and renewal
glorious

28th

Today I saw a kingfisher
what a delight of colour in a drab post winter world
where is the sun

hiding behind storm clouds
rain gives us such a green countryside we should be grateful
we will be patient

29th

O light a flame within my heart
I am ready
truly ready

all doubts pushed to one side as I am overtaken by music
it was if an angel choir sang this morning

30th

Stand still and listen
what do you hear – the sound of peace or does misery draw near
hounding your senses

stand still and look
with all that you have be aware of the beauty
surrounding you be glad

May your own journeys be filled with love and peace – Denny Bradbury©💚

These random thoughts come to me as I try to make sense of sacrifice and goodness against the turmoil that affects the earth in this ever changing 21st century.

21st

The image of Jesus
seared into my mind as a tower of strength sometimes angry
but kind

How would he feel
if he came here today become suffused with such sorrow
would he weep

22nd

Was Mary dry eyed
as she waited for him her first born to come down the mountain again
did she cry

How did Joseph then comfort
the woman he knew as his wife but the handmaid of Jehovah too
did he weep

23rd

He probably did the thing that he could
he made her a keepsake out of hard olive wood
it was love

love that kept all of them
deep in the well of loneliness/happiness how can we tell
love will survive

24th

I spoke to my oak tree
it grows large by the field I walk then I stand and speak softly
I hear the noises around

no rustle of leaves yet
its branches now thicken with sap rising calling the birds to its form
it stands there yet

25th

If only we could know
what the trees have seen throughout the centuries they stand
and become wise

Mayhap we should stand more often
listen to the earth as it tells its story of survival and torment
at human hands

Very best wishes – Denny Bradbury©

Thank you for bearing with me as we journey through Lent – here are the next five days’ thoughts, randomly they come but they are honestly felt. I hope they find their home.

16th

Kith and kin
so important to us just so the family that Jesus left behind
how did they feel

Joseph and his children
Father and siblings to God what an honour what a burden
what a mystery

17th

Simple fishermen
twelve men left to wonder why their friend and leader had gone
without them

how could they begin
to understand the enormity of the position that Jesus was in
dying to live

18th

a concept so difficult
an idea that we find too heavy to contemplate
in the depth of our minds

that living and breathing
we function just so eating and working and loving
onward we go

19th

but tell us we die
then live once more in the bosom of god
shakes us to the core

the life we are given
through love and desire is made much more precious
by heavenly choir

20th

I once met an angel
so softly she came that before I had noticed
she’d gone left no name

but I know it was heaven
sent her to see that I needed a guardian
there she was just for me

Very best wishes – Denny Bradbury

I offer my further ramblings through my mind as the days of Lent tick away:

11th

As you trod the stony path
how did you react when stones not bread accompanied
your every waking hour

did not the bird song
nor the bleat of goat and lamb alike keep you focussed on the moment
when treachery would strike

12th

Did you hear your father’s voice
borne in softly on the wind did you imagine him with you
in your soul and in your mind

were you fearful in your way
that this was all too much to bear turning stones into your bread
did it seem you might go there

were you ever in some doubt
as to the task that you were set breathing mountain dust and dirt
did giving in occur to you

13th

I can’t believe you wavered then
it all makes sense to me that you were ever steadfast true
if only we could see

How much more the sacrifice
of the lenten journey means if you lead us to the top
where we rest in God’s safe arms

14th

Feelings of guilt
I am overwhelmed by the myriad ways I have transgressed
Need to regain proportion

Focus on Mary
Did Jesus take his leave of her as he withdrew to momentous domain
how did she bear it

15th

Morning fog lifts
revealing the stillest of days time for standing thinking
absorbing nature

my fog also disappears
how must we go on we fight for what is right tolerance justice
love for all
it is the only way

DennyBradbury©
💚 very best wishes to you in all your journeying