A thought for August from Reverend Tom

Hello everyone,

Welcome to summer! The school year is coming to an end, holidays away might be booked or time at home is looked forward to. If we are really fortunate, perhaps we can find some time and space to take a breath, enjoy some sunshine and appreciate what we see around us.

This has made me reflect on the importance of ‘ family’ , whether it be our biological family or that wider family of our communities. And within a family, biological or otherwise, we need to be rooted in love if we are to flourish. To be rooted in love means that we care for each other, we are gentle with each other, we are kind. And kindness is a much underrated thing don’ t you think? Kindness is the manifestation of love.  Kindness is what love does. Because love is a doing thing. It is not passive. Kindness is not weakness – it is strength. This does not mean that we will never disagree or even feel irritated by each other - but equally it means that we don’ t bully or allow ourselves to be cruel in our disagreements.

I am reminded again and again that everything that we achieve - the qualifications, the money, the houses, the careers, etc - actually count for very little if we have not been kind in our path to accomplish it . We often hear that it is a dog eat dog world, and while the world can seem cruel at times, the reality is that there is much more kindness around if we take the time to look for it.

God Bless and have a happy and joyous summer.

Tom