… and in the frosty season…

The last little bit of frost on the wild carrot. I do love these seed heads.

After work organising our walk for Shelter planned for this weekend and then a Zoom planning meeting for Norwich Open Christmas. It’s an event that never ceases to amaze me. It started 32 years ago for 20 homeless people and 5 volunteers. Now it can cater for between 5 and 600 guests. Tonight the organisational details were being discussed including food bags to take away after the Christmas dinner, diabetic bags, vegetarian bags, ‘kettle’ bags (for those in bedsits with just a kettle), bags for those living rough.  As the list went on I felt like crying for all the thought, care, compassion without any judgment of anyone, and the sheer hard work and organisation that this small band of folk put in each year to make this happen, including Ric who makes a mean fruit cake/s for all the volunteers to munch on during the day. It’s nothing short of miraculous and has a lovely feel of being one small part of a big ‘family’ … the larger ocean.

Fear - Kahlil Gilbran

It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.