No good deed goes unpunished...

The phrase 'No good deed goes unpunished' is a sardonic commentary on the frequency with which acts of kindness backfire on those who offer them. In other words, those who help others are doomed to suffer as a result of their helpfulness. (Wikipedia)

How true. (Me)

Normal ...

 

Change ...

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer one
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different one
Time may change me
But I can't trace time

(chorus from Changes by David Bowie)

“Change, my dear… and it seems not a moment too soon.”

(words of the Sixth Doctor, 'The Caves of Androzani")

Am I Just Playing A Part?

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely Players;
They have their Exits and their Entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His Acts being seven ages.

Words from William Shakespeare's As You Like It, Act 2 Scene 7

“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theatre, but the God who made you won’t be applauding."

Matthew 6:1 (The Message)

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15 (New International Version)

Have faith...

Focus on the things you can control...

I've got a copy of the Serenity Prayer on my wall at home. It says:

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things that I can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.

The plaque has been on the wall for a while. However, the world has changed significantly since it was put up there. 

When I glance up at it, I smile. It is so apt at the moment. Because things are changing so quickly, and (like many) I simply can't keep up with the changes. Even just a couple of years ago, I could have told you what was happening in my life, what was going to happen. Not so now. There are so many things that I've given up, or simply don't do now. There is such uncertainty. So many things planned, then cancelled or rearranged.

Is this an effect of the pandemic? Of changes in society? Of other people's decisions affecting my life? Of my ever-advancing years?

I really don't know if it's just one thing - it's a combination of things. However, I know I can't go back to the way things used to me. Things have moved on.

So - I need to take it slow, and focus on the things where I can take control. New challenges, new opportunities. 

And I need to stop worrying about the rest. All the things I used to do. The many years of service that I completed, and have now had to let go. I don't mourn their passing any more. I celebrate the fact that I did these things, and made a difference.

And I know there will be new things to do, just around the corner ...

"I keep being asked when we can go 'back to normal' or 'like it was before'. My personal thoughts: We've added a new disease to our population, more infectious and more severe than flu. The world pre-2020 no longer exists - we may want it to, but it just doesn't." - Christina Pagel, Professor of Operational Research and a member of the UK Government's SAGE Committee, in a Twitter quote... 

"Th' whole worl's in a terrible state o' chassis" – Captain Boyle, Act III, Juno and the Paycock (Sean O'Casey)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. - Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV UK)

Don't Quit!

 

A Million Reasons

A Prayer...

Don't Mess With My Head

 

If you are one of those people - be warned. I know who you are. It's not funny. It won't work any more.