July's Trip to Lewis II

Before the photos, I want to have another wee look at Psalm 105. This is what I posted in yesterday's post:

1.O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people.

2 Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works.

3 Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.

4 Seek the Lord, and His strength: seek His face evermore.

5 Remember His marvellous works that He hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth;

6 O ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob His chosen.

7 He is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.

What I noticed was the number of times the psalmist mentions 'Him', 'His', and 'He'.

You see it? It's all about HIM! And when we take our eyes off ourselves, and look firmly to Him, then we see with the proper perspective. Instead of seeing all of life through the lense of our trials - as we're prone to do, rather we see the whole of life through Him. And when we do that, our blessings are easy to find, and a joy to behold.

Our trip home to Lewis had another blessing other than the beaches, the weather, and time with Caleb. We also got to spend time with DR and his fiance, Diana. Soon, it'll be their own wedding, but last week, they were attending the wedding of friends, so I took the opportunity to grab some photos in Marina's garden between the marriage service and the reception.

Because her future mother-in-law was right there, Diana did the decent thing and told DR he was holding her much too close.

Yeah, she looks like she really doesn't like that, DR. 


Hmmhm...

Decorum was restored ....

And I couldn't but think how lovely it is that DR chose someone just like his Mum to be his wife. You know, tall and slender and elegant. Yup, just like me.

Just what you all were thinking too, right?

Yes, thought so.

It wasn't long before their attention was taken elsewhere. What on earth could be more worthy of their attention than me??

Ah, it's the wee fella. I can easily live with coming second to him...

It really is such a joy to me to see DR at this stage of life. The first stage of his studying is complete, and the second part is beginning; he has employment, as well as his 'other job' with the Fire Service; he has a home; and he has Christ above everything. These are wonderful blessings and enough for a lifetime of praise and thanksgiving, but it truly makes this Mum's heart glad to see him engaged and soon to be married to a girl who so clearly loves him, and is adored in return. 

Marriage is such a wonderful gift, and the most beautiful picture of Christ and His church. We will see so much more fully its meaning in Eternity, but even what we do see here - through a glass darkly, admittedly - makes our heart soar in thanksgiving to God for such a blessing. 

And so, in the sentiments of the Psalm (above), I will give thanks to the Lord, I will speak of His wonderful deeds; I will remember His marvellous works, and my heart will rejoice in seeking Him.

He is worth talking about! In fact, I'm going to copy out the Psalm again, and highlight these divine pronouns, just to draw our attention, once again, to Him!

1.O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people.

2 Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works.

3 Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.

4 Seek the Lord, and His strength: seek His face evermore.

5 Remember His marvellous works that He hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth;

6 O ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob His chosen.

7 He is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.

July's Trip to Lewis

You know, sometimes when we go through a time of trial, our trial becomes so all-consuming that all our blessings are seen through the light - or darkness, rather - of that trial. And so, instead of counting our many blessings, which are greater than we can articulate and more numerous than we can count, we mope and weigh down our heart with our woes and our afflictions.

I was reading Psalm 105 yesterday, and these words sprung off the page and into (I hope) my heart:

1.O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people.

2 Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works.

3 Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.

4 Seek the Lord, and His strength: seek His face evermore.

5 Remember His marvellous works that He hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth;

6 O ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob His chosen.

7 He is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.

With this in mind, I am going to write a couple of blog posts about our recent trip home. 

Home is the Isle of Lewis. Obviously.

The posts will be weighed in favour of photos rather than of words, and when you see the photos, you'll understand why:

Catherine, Caleb, and I took a trip to Harris along with my sister, Marina, and my niece, Iona.

To say we were almost bowled over by the beauty of God's creation around us is an understatement. Here, Catherine and Caleb and looking out on Loch Seaforth, enjoying the peace and tranquility it affords.

Erm, hang on. Did I say peace and tranquility? And did you actually believe me, considering I'd already told you my sister was with us.

Really, shame on your naivety.

I call it 'youngest child syndrome', and many of you not-youngest-siblings will agree that the condition is widespread and is utterly non-treatable.

This wee fella. What can I say? Other than that I love him so very, very much.

Honestly, almost around every corner, we ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the beauty before us. The weather was gorgeous - about 25C (77F), with a gentle breeze to keep away midges and, as you see, stunningly blue skies. In other words: perfection.

There is no doubt that our wonderful Creator, who showered such delights on us, is a God of design and beauty and kindness. What therapy for mind and soul these views are!

We stopped off at Horgabost, had our picnic lunch on the machair, and then enjoyed a couple of hours on the sands.

As you see, even on the most perfect of days, our island beaches have plenty space for all visitors. Crowded beaches are not something we know anything of in Lewis or Harris!

Caleb was flying high, enjoying the attention, undoubtedly, more than the scenery. 

And surrounded by all of us, attention was most certainly not in short supply.

How could it be, when he is such an adorable bundle of utter joy?!

Did I mention joy? Yes, I have so many blessings to bring joy to my heart, and of temporal blessings, this wee guy is most certainly a big part of that.

"And no matter what kind of face you put on, young man, Granny is still going to smother you in love and hugs and kisses."

Aye, probably even when you're a teenager. Now, wont that be fun!

Babies and Culture

We want to introduce Caleb at the earliest age to cultural diversity, so we made sure over the past few days that ..


...he got to watch Match of the Day,

he watched/slept through the Last Night of the Proms,

and lastly, but certainly not least, he sat through a marathon session of Pride and Prejudice with his Mammy and Granny.

He told us, in no uncertain terms, that Pride and Prejudice was his favourite, but that we weren't to tell Uncle Calum. 

He also promised me that next year, he would stay awake for at least part of the Last Night of the Proms.

And he vowed that he wouldn't become football obsessed like his uncle. 

Clarification:
All the opinions and words here are his own, and are in no way influenced by Granny. 

Labour Day .... UK Style

Apparently, in the USofA, last Monday was Labour Day (though undoubtedly, it's written Labor Day). Well, I must tell you all that last Monday was most definitely a Labour Day for us here, and by mid afternoon, that labouring had given Catherine and John their first child, and given the Builder and I our first grandchild.

Here's Caleb Finlay James a minute or two after his birth with his already doting daddy.

To say we are all in awe and in love would be understatements.

Here he is wrapped in a blanket that my Mum had knitted. When Catherine was up in Lewis back in January, Mum gave her a blue blanket and a pink one she'd already made. She pretty much knew she would not be here to see her first great-grandchild, but she wanted Catherine to have these blankets. While the blanket is most certainly not as precious as the bundle inside, it is still very precious to Catherine.

Here's our new bundle in the cradle he got from his great auntie Marina. (Emphasis on great as in old. Not as in fab. Noooo, no no, she is our old great auntie. That sounds way older than Granny!)





Uncle Calum made sure to introduce him at the first opportunity to a football and all matters football related.

Those of us who know Calum know that he talks of football matters a lot. I mean incessantly. Caleb gave a perfect demonstration of how we all tend to feel when Calum Stewart is on his 375th footballing fact of the day.

Apologies, son, but this is how it feels to us too. Caleb is speaking for us all ...

No doubt, I shall be inundating y'all with photos of our new gift in future posts. For now, I shall leave you with this thought: 

In July this year, I sat right beside my Mum's bedside as she drew her last breath and passed from this life into eternity.

Just a couple of months later, I sat right beside Catherine's bedside as my grandchild drew his first breath is this world.

Death and life. Life and death. Nothing is meaningless in God's world.