Row upon row of pink fabric tied to rope.  If you could get closer, you would be able to read the messages... 'remembering mum/sister/daughter/partner/friend...' 'celebrating health/life/hope...' 'praying/wishing for...'

I took this photo five years ago, when I did a 20 mile charity fund raising walk for Breast Cancer Care, starting and ending at Scone Palace in Perthshire. I still have - and still sometimes listen to - the five hour play list I created with the music chosen by those who sponsored me, along with some pieces of music/songs that are significant to me or are in memory of women whose lives were cut short by this horrible disease.

Today one of my longest standing bc-buddies, A, will be laid to rest after a courageous journey with stage 4 breast cancer.  Hers was a life well-lived, full of love and laughter, generosity and fun.  We weren't ever close, but we shared some happy times and some sad times along the way.  Farewell, A, may you rest in peace and rise in glory.

When we were at vicar school, we did quite a lot of stuff looking at personality types and their possible value/significance.  I have been revisiting the enneagram ahead of a service I'm due to take in a couple of week's time.  I am enjoying the reading, and decided it was time to do a 'proper' enneagram test to see if what I'd understood myself to be in yesteryear was still the case.

So, I used my 'free time' at the Ministers' Conference to do a paid for Enneagram test here.  And, guess what, after all these years I still come out equally a 'Loyal' (6) and 'Reformer' (1), with 'Achiever' (3) only just behind.  The blurb says that 6s and 1s can be mis-typed as each other, so maybe it's not so odd to be equal on the two.

The book I'm reading 'The Sacred Enneagram' by Christopher L Heuretz is fascinating, complex, readable and I think quite helpful. How I'm going to distill any of it into 20 minutes is another matter altogether!!

Ever since we organised my Mum's funeral, and I discovered just how easy it was with a pre-paid plan, so that all we had to do was fix a date and buy flowers, I've been meaning to do likewise.  So today I did.  Just in case anyone puts two and two together and makes a very large number, I am still a NED, and generally still fit and well - this is just me trying to ensure that one day, hopefully a long way off, things will be fairly straight forward for whoever has to organise my funeral.

The woman at the Funeral Director's could not have been more helpful or more straight-forward (she seemed doubly pleased when I said I really doubted I'd move back south of the border, even though I would always be English). 

So now it's all set up - you buy funeral plans online not in the FD's apparently.  And because it's Co-op, and because I paid £1 to become a member of the Co-op, I get a small discount.  And because there was a discount code thingy, I'll be sent £120 worth of co-op gift vouchers to spend on food!!

When I first made a will (about thirty years ago!) it felt a bit like tempting providence.  This doesn't.  It actually just gives me peace of mind.  The decisions are made and no-one as to worry about 'what she'd have wanted'.

It also means that I won't be worrying about keeping enough savings back to cover the costs... almost the opposite of the 'bigger barns' parable - which in turn means that I will be able to enjoy some treats from time to time rather than endlessly saving for a rainy day I won't see!

This Sunday I am doing a 'guest preach' at a church in Fife.  I need to do a 'children's talk' (sic - need to educate them!) and have no idea how many or what age... so here are the bits I have gathered to take along with me.

What's the difference between the fizzy water and all the other items? I know, it's not scientifically accurate, but CO2 will play a small part in the bringing to life of the other objects!!

I wonder what the person covering for me will do for the 'all together' bit...? 

Yesterday I took delivery of a few copies of this booklet produced to mark a century of ordained and accredited Baptist women's ministry in these islands.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I stand on the shoulders of giants.

It's not false modesty to say that the longer I serve the less assured I become of my competence, and the more convinced I become of my calling. Twenty years ago, when I was preparing to begin training, I could never have imagined the journey I'd be taking, ten years ago I had no idea what crossing a border might really mean, but, as I say periodically, 'here I am, I can do no other'.

#justaminister #justaminister100 #bwim100