Life

Creative Imagination

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Creative Imagination, Curse or a Blessing?

Creative Imagination

One of the distinctive features of humans is their creativity, by the use of their imagination they can create great literature or compose moving compositions that inspire and uplift our spirits

Not forgetting those magnificent works of art, timeless masterpieces that live on in our lives long after the artist who produced them passed away

With such a wonderful gift of creativity, it is sad that there have been those who chose to create weapons of destruction and used their imagination to stir emotions of envy and hate    

Creating ugliness instead of beauty – wonder and joy

Even the great artists and composers must have struggled with their creative nature, for some became tormented by the very passion that drove them towards greatness

While others succumbed to their emotions and allowed their imagination to conjure up demanding personal demons that soon ruled over their lives

Twisting what should have been a joyful experience of love, into a bitter-tasting pill to swallow, with such power over them they abruptly ended their life

They could not bear such torment, and many lived in poverty only to become famous after their death – sadly never knowing the fame and fortune that might have been theirs

Vincent Van Gogh was such an artist, although he didn’t intend to become an artist, he originally went into the life of a clergy.

Several years later he became a creative artist, but sadly remained poor, only reaching the lofty status of a famous artist after his death

Where were you in my hour of need?

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In your darkest hour of need, I was there to be your light to guide your way

In your deepest depression, I was there to lift you up and give you my endless joy

In your sorrow and grief, I was there to comfort you and hold you as my child that you are

In your loneliness, I was there to be your friend and share my deepest love beyond all understanding

When hatered surrounded you, I offered you my love so rich that even the memory of hate would dissolve away

When you were poor, I offered you my abundances so you would not lack for nothing

When you were lost and strayed far away, I came in search of you to guide you back home to me

In your foolishness, I was patient and with love greater than your earthly farther

In your youthful defiance, when you search for your own way, I was waiting to guide you back to my path

When you were disappointed, I wanted to give you all that you might be satisfied

In every hour of every day, every moment of time I was there for you

In all your life, I have been there for you, to carry you when weary, to love you unconditionally

When you reached out for me, I reached down to you and brought you to myself and held you tightly

But …..

Where were you when they whipped my body?

Where were you there when they crucified me on the tree?

Where were you there when they pierced me in the side?

Where were you when all my followers abandoned me?

Where were you in my hour of need?

Video

Daily Life of a Caregiver

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I write this press release about my daily life as someone who cares for his wife, not to boast, but more to inform those who don’t realise what is involved

Also for those who like me who take care of someone, so that they too may be given the recognition they deserve

As to myself I gave up my job and became a full-time caregiver, but not realizing at the time just how full-time this was going to be

For starters, I had to learn what medications my wife was on, including the dosage and strength of each tablet she takes, and that has changed over time

Also during our first year of marriage, not only adjusted to married life but also witnessed first-hand just how strong and violent grand mal seizures can be

At times I attempted to hold onto my wife through these seizures so she would not fall out of bed but this felt something like riding a bucking bronco

Other times when we went out my wife would crash to the floor without warning, far too quickly to grab hold of to slow the fall, which was unnerving to me and made me feel helpless

I also took over household duties, such as cooking – washing clothes – shopping – managing medication and money management

On days when my wife was unwell from the after-effects of a seizure, I would need to help her get dressed

All of this on a daily basis, more or less and continue to do so over 35 years of marriage, at the time of writing this.

Whereas we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversay in June 2022 Link Here to the brief post about it

Laughter a Joy onto the soul

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In answer to a question about what is a laugh, Kenny Dodd once said “There are many layers of laughter, like a rainbow which starts with the brightest colour white.

The purest of laughter is that of young children

When you pass a school playground, you will their laughter which is just the simple joy of being alive

The sound of this laughter can lift your spirits and is a to your soul, the soul to that sacred home of pure being and all admirable emotions

Such as love – joy – compassion – kindness – thoughtfulness – consideration

There have been many times in my life when someone’s laughter has touched my soul and lifted me up from dark and troublesome times

When my heart had been heavily laden and my mind is also troubled, thankfully the sound of my wife’s laughter dispersed all the darkness

My wife is like Peter Pan, she never wants to grow up, at least in her mind and heart, for within the soul of us all lies the childlike joy that is expressed through the sound of laughter

What a dark and gloomy world this would be without love or the beautiful sound of laughter, for love and laughter have the power to defeat even the darkest and loneliest moments of life

Along with the innocence of childhood, those young children possess the ability to enjoy life just for the pleasure of being alive

Life without Religion

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To begin with, allow me to explain I have been a Christian all of my life, and this year I will be 67 years old, I was christened as  a baby at a local church, and later went there for Sunday school, although I have no memory of this

Later on, as a child, I attended a local school, where every morning pupils had to attend the morning assembly, where passages of the bible were read out by the headmaster

I was fascinated by these stories, perhaps this was due to my earlier Sunday school lesson and a vivid imagination

I was able to picture the scenes depicted in my mind, so those stories and the characters became as real to me as everyday people to the extent that I never doubted the truth of the bible

Time passed and soon I was leaving school and began looking for a job, a place of work which wasn’t easy as I had no idea what work I wanted to do

My only thought was I wanted to do something using my hands, which is what I told my carers officer, much to the amusement of other boys at school when I told them what I had said

I won’t bore you with the exact details of all the jobs I started, sufficient to say there where I didn’t last that long employed

For assorted reasons I was dismissed for being unsuitable or found myself unable to work in noisy environments

I suppose thinking back it was at that time when I began to forget my interest in bible stories and any belief  I had acquired in my school days

Life goes on and time past more quickly than it seems to do, the next milestone in my life was to be when I got married to a young girl of 19 ten years young than myself

This event took place in Hall Green Methodist Church, as we had invited 150 guests and needed a church large enough to seat them all and it also had a hall for the reception afterwards

So it was on June 12th 1982 we were married and started our new life together in a small one-bedroom house locally, life was not a bed of roses far from it, as my new wife suffers from epileptic seizures

Although I knew in advance about the condition, it really didn’t prepare me for the struggle and heart ace of watching helplessly when my wife went into major fits, not to mention all the medication I had to get used to organizing for her

Sometime during our 1st year of marriage which was hard to deal with, a young couple came calling that belonged to the Jehovah’s witness group

I was desperate for the company at the time, even though I didn’t admit it even to myself, so I invited them in even though they immediately began preaching about serving the right god, I listen and replied when the occasion arose

Drawing on my past knowledge of the bible, I remember shaking at times unsure why though, they continued for many weeks to come until maybe someone in higher authority decided to send two other JW’s

These were two ladies in place of the married couple who came first, these ladies were pleasant enough but somehow I was unable to feel at ease in the same way as before in sharing my faith and ideas with them

To be continued

Moving day:

After only one year at the house where we had lived, my wife told me she was pregnant and since that house only had one bedroom we decided to move to a two-bedroom house

So we applied and fortunately, a suitable house was offered not too far away from the old one, that also meant it was the time we had any of those JW’s visiting us

Then on June the 9th 1983, our daughter was born and yet another change was to begin, due the medication my wife takes she either slept or had seizures as the medication didn’t always control the epilepsy

I had to take over the feeding and generally looking after our daughter, but she was worth any sacrifice

Sometime when we had settled into our new home and lifestyle, we found a local Congregational church where we attend Sunday services and allowed our daughter to go to Sunday school

Time moves on and years fled by and before we knew it, we were celebrating our 25th anniversary so took that opportunity to re-dedicate ourselves to each other and went through a second marriage service

The years fly past and I spend too much free time at my computer, catching up with friends on Facebook and watching videos on YouTube

This brings me to the title of this piece, as I was listening to Christian music and  happened to glance at some of the comments and dared to respond to atheists complaining about the video being too long and boring

As if they would have watched it, however, I didn’t retaliate just merely asked why they bothered coming to a Christian praise video in the first place

I digress, while looking around my eye was caught by videos put up by an Atheists group who did live radio chats and recorded them in video format too so they could add them to their YouTube channel (subject or another posting)

Having watched a number of them, I came across a whole series of videos on Creationist v Evolution by AronRa, who turn out to be a good education scientific-minded man, with a wealth of knowledge on many subjects

But watching all 14 of them along with ongoing counter comments concerning my view on the praise video, took its toll and found myself becoming disheartened and disillusioned about my belief in god 

Such was the power of the arguments against religion in general, but more so those who believed in the creation of everything by God, that many questions persisted in my mind late at night disturbing any chance of a peaceful sleep

The thing is I already knew some things about evolution, as I used to watch a T.V program called “The origin of species” and later on “The naked ape” but they never upset me or challenged my belief in creation by god

But Aron’s videos certainly did, perhaps it was because he was so knowledgeable about so many subjects with many I had not even heard of, or just his persistence in the production of so many videos hammering home the same message be it in a slightly altered version of the same material, plus other videos he uploaded in which he directly attacked the bible and belittle Jesus and the miracles he did

Whatever it was, the effect made me doubt my faith and I allowed myself to think of giving up believing in god giving up my faith and therefore my religion

I find it hard to put into mere words the emptiness and sadness I experienced during those dark days, but perhaps in a strange way Aron did me a favour because of him I had the opportunity to experience what my life would be like without religion without my faith

I doubt if any atheist would ever begin to know or care about the vast empty void, or the all-consuming bitterness a believer would endure if they turned away from god

Also atheist would ever begin to know what pure joy and love far beyond our human experience god give to us so freely, even though we could not expect it or imagine it even in our wildest thought  

To all believers in the God of creation, hold fast to what you have and never give up, as God will never give up on you – God loves you in such a perfect way His love will fill all emptiness