I’m not a religious person, I never have been, I went to a Catholic school where we had mass, and nuns and sometimes they’d put dots of ash on our foreheads or make us carry palm crosses, but none of that was for me.
I don’t have a problem at all with other people being religious, but I don’t want to get involved. I’ll worship cats, and chickens, the seasons, and the sun. I’m after joy and contentment, wherever it comes from. I might even worship puddings.
Someone once told me I’d make a really good Christian, and I knew they meant it as a compliment, but I just wasn’t sure how to process it without screwing my face up.
Another time a couple of guys came to the house, asking me if I was afraid of all the terrible things that were happening in the world, and if I wanted to go somewhere safe when I died, because, they could help me have that peace to look forward to. Once I’d established that they were Jehovahs Witnesses and not serial killers, I told them that I wanted to make a difference whilst I am alive, and we should all be doing something now, so should they. One of them nodded furiously and I think he was agreeing with me, or malfunctioning.
It’s on days like today, when I have a rare moment to sit and take stock. We were up with the shining sun. Adam has been busying about, and I’ve been preparing chocolate covered cakes to share with family and friends. Good Friday, be it a religious holiday or not, is a good day. A spare one, to enjoy.
I can hear lawnmowers and see birds flitting by the window. There’s a moorhen that keeps coming to eat the chicken food, and a random cat has been in the garden eating pasta.
Life is good.
And with the time to enjoy what we have, comes the time to think about what else is going on in the world.
Contrary to popular belief, I don’t live in a utopian bubble. I just choose to try and see and share the good, and the fun, and the happy, because if we didn’t try and do that as much as possible, well, we’d all be totally f*cked.
On Tuesday I woke up to the news that Brussels was in the midst of some kind of attack. I phoned Adam, he was there in the airport hotel. Usually Adam would be travelling in at 8am, but by luck, he’d gone the evening before. He’d heard what was happening, he could hear the sirens rushing by.
His office is only a few minutes walk away, so he hurried there, trying to phone his colleagues. Everyone was accounted for. Then the phones stopped working. Outside the hotel were ground crew and people who’d been evacuated from the airport. Then there was the attack on the Metro. It was clearly a terrorist attack. Terrible things were happening to innocent people.
Adam managed to get a lift to Dusseldorf, and a flight to Birmingham, where he came and met me at the NEC. He’s good like that.
If Adam listed all the ‘near misses’ he’s had then he’d probably think he was in Final Destination or something, but it’s important to focus on the good and enjoy our time as much as possible. We mustn’t ignore the bad things, but at the same time, we mustn’t let them consume us.
Let’s use our energy to make a positive impact, any time we can. We can’t live in fear. We’ve got to have compassion, we’ve got to have care for each other, and we’ve got to have cake.
So today, it’s all about cake, and sunshine, and finding joy. Happy Easter, whatever it is.