Gifts

      Hi guys,

      Well, it’s midday, the sun is over the yard arm, and the gift of Pilsener Urquell is in reach.

      I’ll bet you didn’t know the Pope wanted to ban beer. And if you’ve wondered why King Wenceslas was so good, it’s because he petitioned the Pope not to ban beer.

      Gifts. Golden liquid bread. Reconciliation. Recovery. That sneaky pagan ritual called the Eucharist. Everybody loves to give and receive, but some gifts have a meaning beyond what you’d expect, even if you might spit at them but begrudgingly crawl back. Like me and reconciliation, going from shame to grace again after I messed up my recovery last night following a bad experience.

      Long story short, my boundaries were ignored, it triggered things in my past, and I went and self-medicated. I was going to hide in the bushes and leave church for a week, but I’ll go get myself back in touch with the guy upstairs, and Thursday I’ll share with the group, and see about contacts and sponsors.

      Gifts. Donations to bushfire appeals for people, firies, and koalas. Church goes into Ordinary Time on the back of J’s baptism; while people in affected areas go into a darker time on the back of devastation. I won’t say more, here’s the reflection where I saw this point (scroll to the bottom of page two), but many of us, nones and religious, are doing the self-humbling to serve the human need.

      Sometimes, we don’t feel we need a gift. Sometimes, we don’t feel worthy. Sometimes, we can’t give a gift. Sometimes, we don’t out of spite. And sometimes, we look like we give a gift, but there's strings attached. But receiving a gift with meaning brings us to an amazing place; to give one with meaning, perfect humanity.

      Gifts. Writing. Creativity. A Bipolar 1 brain gives awesome dreams and very strange humour. Okay that’s a curse, too. But I’ve wanted to write since I was in year four, and I believe I am called to write. The talent not to bury, but use with shrewdity for increase.

      As for it, The Ways In continues well. I’m at the fourth last chapter of my final rewrite, bye-bye exuberant, unnecessary dross - see what I did there? Not long to go, and its out into the world. With that done, it’s on to The Ways Out, then a dramatic story idea, a classic Hallmark underdog story, my burner project, and I just had the idea for a slasher story…

      The joys of being a writer.

      Thanks for reading, and as always, have a good one!

      T. M.