Today's gift is a balloon - and almost all the bags contain 'Christmas' balloons with a cheery design printed on them... I ran out, so some bags have slightly more expensive plain coloured balloons!

Preachers often use balloons when they talk about God's Spirit breathing new life into the disicples at Pentecost, or alongside the story of the valley of dry bones.  This reduction of us to floppy bits of rubber - maybe with a face printed on - isn't entriely helpful in my view!  As God's beloved children, we already have the Spirit's breath of life in us.

So maybe, instead we could see the balloon, filled with our own breath, as a simple symbol of joy, of fun, of divine mischief even - as God's untameable Spirit tops us up yet again...

Mischievous thought... does this blown up balloon infer that Santa has gone all charismatic on us?!

[Safety note - be careful with balloons, especially if your have pets or small children.  If/when the balloons burst, be sure to get all the bits to avoid risk of choking due to accidental ingestion]

Today's poem is The Visitation by Elizabeth Jennings, which you can read here.

The image is of the statue of the visitation which stands outside the Church of the Visitation in Ein Karem in Israel (read more here)

And here's the prayer...

God of secrets and surprises,

Of bewildering contradictions -

Pain disguised as joy,

Life wrought through death,

And the ordinary made extraordinary,

Help us, like Mary and Elizabeth,

To find moments undisturbed -

By men* or by miracles -

And to be at one with you

Amen

* Whilst I would intuitively use 'humans' or 'people' in a context like this, 'men' matches the poem ... and I am also intrigued by this most feminine encounter where to be uninterrupted by 'male' humans' is significant.  If you are a man reading this, then maybe think of a male-male encounter hallowed by the absence of women.

Inconsequential, just a small length of tinsel, cut from a reel, sparkling in the light. A reminder, perhaps, that small things can bring joy. Mine is now wrapped around a candle, and adds a little bit of sparkle to its otherwise plainness.

Today's poem returned to the theme of the annunciation, with a poem called Annunciation by Gwyneth Lewis, which I posed some years back here

The image is part of the Jesus Mafa series, which I came across more than a decade ago.  This African art seems to express the progression described in the poem.

The prayer...

God of uncomplicated simplicity, and intricate beauty,

Glimpsed in the everyday scenes of domesticity

As much, if not more, than in high renaissance art,

Open our hearts and our minds to fresh insights,

New wisdom and renewed wonder

As, once again, we ponder the old, familiar story.

Amen

I received a message from someone who has discovered this blog asking if it was possible to 'follow'.  I did reply, but, due to an incomplete or mistyped email address, it bounced.

The short answer is, I don't know how to set that up, or even if it's possible on this platform - but thank you for your message and I hope you continue to enjoy this blog.