Devotions

It is International Day of Peace today. It is hard to be optimistic or positive given how much is going on in the world. Nonetheless let us dare to dream of a better, more peaceful world, where quiet and peacable peoples may thrive. Many of us are exhausted and overwhelmed, but the struggle and pilgrimage towards peace continues in various pockets of society across the world. May the lights still shine. As a Christian I look to the Prince of Peace as the author and finisher of my faith. There is great darkness in the world, but a much greater light.  Adin Ballou , an American Christian pacifist and abolitionist wrote a book called  Christian Non-Resistance, in all its important bearings, illustrated and defended (1846), which was widely read and admired by Leo Tolstoy. There is a short poetic part in the book that says: ​"The earth, so long a slaughter-field, Shall yet an eden bloom; The spear shall be a harvest-tool, The trumpet's voice be dumb." Another version is...

Today I started an art class. The class has an art therapy style about it. It has been a while since I did something just for me. Not for work, nor for family (although they will likely benefit all being well). It is nice to do something new. I sometimes regret doing Social Sciences and Theology instead of art at university. Nonetheless I suppose those other deep topics are useful in other ways. It is also nice to do art for therapy and pleasure as a pose to academic pursuit. Hopefully I will be able to share some art or at least more about art in a future post. Watch this space...