It is Justice.

I just could not resist this.

The wall had started to crumble and fall so as I passed I just could not resist making one of my little piles of stones. It seems to fit with the two peaks of East and West Lomond in the background. Unlike them, my little structure is not going to stand for any length. I am not sure how long it will last at all. The weather and time will make sure of that if it is not demolished by another walker who takes a dislike to it. It lasted long enough to give me the pleasure of putting it there and painting it.

So no matter what happens to it my painting will give it some history and become part of my memories. Thanks to nature for providing me with this moment of pleasure.

This made me think of other walls and other stories.

There is the story of the man who appeared before the judge in court. The man had a very clever lawyer who got him his freedom not because he had proven his innocence but on a technicality of law. The judge before declaring him free to go said to him that he had little doubt about the guilt of the man but he had to let him go. He was sure though that at some point the man would have to face justice unless he changed his ways. 

Justice did indeed come sooner than even the judge had thought. A week later the man was in the process of burgling a home. He heard noises of the owners returning so he fled out the back door and over a nine-foot-high wall. As he dropped to the ground he discovered he had dropped into a prison.

Justice, in this case, was almost a kind of karma. 

Another true tale of a kind of justice comes from the life of the wealthy Andrew Carnegie.

A rather radical man once came to see him and soon was railing against the injustice of Carnegie having so much money. In his view, wealth was meant to be divided equally. It was wrong that so much wealth should lie in the hands of one person.

Carnegie asked his secretary for an assessment of everything he owned and at the same time looked up the figures on world population. He did a little arithmetic on a pad and then said to his secretary. 

"Give this gentleman l6 cents. That's his share of my wealth."

The same Andrew Carnegie had been born a very poor lad in my hometown of Dunfermline as a boy used to look through the fence at the large estate owned by one family. How he longed to have been able to play in there. He purchased that very property and donated it to the people of Dunfermline who still enjoy it to this day. he also had the public Library built for the furtherance of the education of the people. 

As a student with a small grant I each year was awarded a bursary towards the cost of my books from the Carnegie Fund set up for this purpose. Seems that Andrew was very aware of justice and his background. My thanks go to his memory. 

I rejoice in the oft-shown to my truth that what goes around comes around. I in thanks continue to this day to try and make sure that what I own brings joy not only to myself but where possible to others. Every little thought action or gift we give goes twards the justice of all.

Have a marvellous day.

Blog 700 go on have a laugh.

Oh Dear, what has been going on in the wee bird household?

Blog number 700 in this series of blogs a bit of a milestone and thanks to those who have stuck with me and made comments and given support. More importantly, take the time to read.

Going to keep this very brief and simple and to the point unusual for me being one of those people who will never say anything in one sentence if I can find six that would say the same thing. 

More than one person asked me yesterday why I was the kind of person who smiled rather than laughed. Now not what you would expect but I do know the answer to that question. It does make a point worthy of making so I will take just a few moments to give you the answer.

I was never one who just laughed at anything, I know a few who do but I was not one such. I was a shy introvert type of person, a bit like I still am. But when I did laugh I laughed with all of my being from the soles of my feet, I gave it my all.

Not only did I give it my all I thoroughly enjoyed laughter when it came. Not being a person prone to showing emotions and shrugging at the thought of a cuddle except maybe from my gran, I felt good when laughter came.

Now here was the rub. When I laughed I laughed with a gusto of noise. 

I left school and took up a job. I worked with a certain person whose name I can still remember and the look on his face when he nicknamed me, He Haw.

I will never ever forget that day. I was embarrassed to my very core. I do not think I ever laughed again at that place of work, and for certain never did in his company. Even when I found something very amusing I restrained myself from laughter. Even to this day, I remember that event and moment and so seldom laugh even though I oft times feel like doing just that.

I learned a much more important lesson that day. I vowed that I would never ever make fun of a persons' laughter. Likewise, I would never ever mock a persons' singing voice. I now and again have a little friendly banter with my very good friend and my wife who have the ability to hardly if ever hit a correct note, but I still encourage them to song.

These two things, singing and laughing should be forever encouraged because they can lift the hearts and fill sad corners with the sound of joy. 

While the average child laughs 150 times a day, say researchers at the University of Michigan, the average adult laughs only 15 times.

Will you please just for today go one step further than a smile and have a laugh for me or even at me. Would be nice to think that on the day of this 700th blog we could have 700 laughs.

Have a marvellous day.

Do not be afraid to laugh.

Those wee birds are back.

I walked past the golf course the other day there and watched as four older gentlemen each played their shots. As they proceeded, I also felt it was safe to move onwards. As they passed closer I asked them if they were having a good game. They replied, "A good game? No, we are only here for the entertainment. We each laugh at the silly shots played by the rest of us so all in all, we all have a good laugh.

There is nothing more infectious than the laugh of another. We really ought not to laugh at the folly of others but in this case, it was all fine because they had all obviously agreed that laughter was better than weeping at the terrible shots being played. 

I often find myself bursting into laughter when reading some witty remarks in some of the books I read. The one I just finished yesterday certainly managed to do that even though it was a fairly serious book making reflections on real-life situations we are all familiar with. 

I came across some notes that had been made by a few friends in letters we had received over the years as ministers.

I'm writing this slow because I remember you telling me you were not a fast reader.

We don't live where we did when you left. My hubby read in the paper where the most accidents happened within twenty miles of home, so we moved. 

 This place we're rentin' has a washin' machine. The first day I put four new shirts in it, pulled the chain, and I haven't seen them since. 

It only rained twice this week: three days the first time and four days the second time.

The coat you wanted me to send the one you left last time you visited. We were concerned that it was very heavy and might be costly to send via the mail, so we cut off the big buttons and put them in the pockets.

I heard that my sister had a baby this morning but I haven't been over there yet to find out if it's a boy or a girl so I don't know if I'm an Aunt or an Uncle.

I hope at least one or two of those brought a smile to your face. I learned and filed away in that corner of my brain full of information of little use that the average person smiles or laughs seventeen times a day. I am sure that if you have a little laugh at the start of the day nobody will hold you to the seventeen.

Let me share with you one or two tips to cultivate a sense of humour that just might add to that average of seventeen.

1. Catch yourself in some amusing inconsistency and then laugh at yourself. This is the foundation of a healthy sense of humour.

2. Note the inappropriate or funny things people say or do in public, and draw parallels between those silly behaviours and your own. Positive humour goes beyond mere criticism to a recognition of our common plight as less-than-perfect human beings.

3. Occasionally do something harmlessly absurd and totally out of character for your spontaneous entertainment.

5. Avoid sarcasm, ridicule, and excessive teasing. They hurt rather than heal. 

Have a marvellous day please do not count the laughs you have just go and and have a laugh and share it with a friend just for today to start yours and their good day.

If something can go wrong it will.

I saw this little Tit on my walk and it immediately made me think of those two wee birds that have been finding their way into my paintings for ages. This little fellow looked so alone and lost. I wonder what had happened that he was so alone? I so hope being in this painting of mine if I ever see him again his friends will have returned and he once again has a song to sing for me.

I think it was my best friend who told me that in the soldiers manual there is a word of advice for those in command. "An order that can be misunderstood with be misunderstood."

It is the case but do not despair there is hope.  I have found myself thinking more than once in life that I had suffered from being misunderstood. later I have learned that I might have suffered more had I been understood. 

It really is the case that we end up being misunderstood because we get ourselves all wound up and before we know it chaos reigns supreme. 

Let me give you two examples one that is very true and the other I am not so convinced about. I will leave you to decide which is which.

The first is  a story I heard recently that made me smile and set me to thinking. 

One dark rainy night a salesman had a flat tyre on a lonely road not far from Auchtermuchty. (I threw the name in for those who find Scots pronunciation hard). A simple thing to sort if you have the correct tools. To his dismay, he had no tool to remove the wheel nuts. 

Seeing a nearby farmhouse, he set out on foot. Surely the farmer would have a such a tool, he thought. But would he even come to the door? And if he did, he'd probably be furious at being bothered at this time of night. He would  say, "What's the big idea getting me out of bed in the middle of the night?" 

This thought made the salesman angry. Why that farmer is a selfish old clod to refuse to help me. Finally, he reached the house. Frustrated and drenched, he banged on the door. "Who's there?" a voice called out from a window overhead.

  

"You know good and well who it is," yelled the salesman, his face red with anger. "It's me! And you can keep your old wrench! I wouldn't borrow it is it was the last one in the county.

Nobody to blame but his own stupidity.

The second I apologise is slightly longer but trust me worth the time. The following advertisements appeared in the local Courier.

Monday: "The Rev. A.J. Jones has one colour television for sale. Telephone 01337 1313 after 7 p.m. and ask for Mrs Donnelley who lives with him, cheap." 

Tuesday: "We regret any embarrassment caused to Rev. Jones by a typographical error in yesterday's paper. The ad should have read: 'The Rev. A.J. Jones has one colour television set for sale, cheap...Telephone 01337 1313 and ask for Mrs Donnelley, who lives with him after 7 p.m." 

Wednesday: "The Rev. A.J. Jones informs us that he has received several annoying telephone calls because of an incorrect ad in yesterday's paper. It should have read: 'The Rev. A.J. Jones has one colour television set for sale, cheap. Telephone 01337 1313 after 7 p.m. and ask for Mrs Donnelley who loves with him." 

Thursday: "Please take notice that I, the Rev. A.J. Jones, have no colour television set for sale; I have smashed it. Don't call 01337 1313 anymore. I have not been carrying on with Mrs Donnelley. She was, until yesterday, my housekeeper." 

Friday: "Wanted: a housekeeper. Usual housekeeping duties. Good pay. Love in, Rev. A.J. Jones. Telephone 01337  1313." 

There are days when just nothing goes correctly let me tell you I know because I had one two days ago. Have a great error-free day.  I am not sure if you are a rugby fan but one side had to win and one had to lose.

A new adventure.

If at first, you are not happy there is nothing wrong with trying again. I tried to paint this dog once before and I never really felt happy with the finished result so here I have had a second attempt. it was the eyes that I had the most difficulty with and even on this I had three tries and am still not sure.

But this picks up from what I was saying just the other day if you do not try something how will you ever know that you cannot do something.  I is often the easy way out to say I cannot. 

I was talking yesterday about past attempts at things for the first time. I was doing so because I have just taken the bull by the horns and at last made a purchase of some tiles and materials to make an attempt at doing a mosaic.

I have been thinking about this since the summer of last year if not longer. The materials and my first tile snipping tool have arrived. I felt excited as I opened the parcel. Then I saw all those coloured little tiles all waiting to be shaped trimmed and made into a design. The excitement took a little nose dive and my fears began to become obvious. Having invested in this I now feel that I have to make the effort. 

The chat I had was with my wife and friend as we were out walking. I was remembering the first time I had attempted to make a rug. I had a large bit of a canvas weave and a hook-like tool for pulling through and knotting lengths of wool. it took me ages to complete but the finished carpet graced the front of our fireplace for many years and in many different homes. 

I also at one time had a try at making pictures on canvas board with little shards of glass and glue.I made a fairly successful attempt at a picture of an owl on one and a peacock on another. Both worked out not too bad after some teething troubles about the best way to tackle the task.

The finished owl hung for years on my mothers' wall while the peacock hung in the living room of my mother and father in laws' for even more years. I remember feeling exactly the same way as I do today as I look at these tiles and snippers.

How long will I look before being brave enough to venture forth?  What will I try to create? Possibly something with two birds in it.

When you consider the task before me there is some similarity to those other ventures I tried. Even more, it is very much like the story of our life. Nature has given us a starting point. Who knows when the endpoint will be but there most certainly is one. In gaps between the two lies the weave o life.

In our hands lies the ability to weave a beautiful pattern that brings joy to others. There will be mistakes along the way and the pattern might for a bit look uncertain and not so pretty but it is up to us what the end product will look like.

I am sure if we had stopped and considered way back at the beginning the adventure we were setting out on we would have had a sense of fear and trepidation. But we were young and had less knowledge and maybe even less sense of the journey. But being young and full of the wisdom of youth we ventured forth.

As I said yesterday when I quoted my favourite sage. The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. 

I am as some of you well on the road of the journey of life but I stand on the threshold of my next little challenge. Now, what are you going to add something to the weave of your life?

Have a marvellous day and remember the journey of the day begins the minute your foot hits the floor. 

A wee Robin with a message.

A few people said they liked the story of the robin and how it got its red breast. Of course, it is a tale one of the many I have heard to describe how this brave little bird got a red breast. Some of the tales, of course, are based on biblical stories and the crucifixion but I have seen others based on other events.

I suppose it is because they do seem so tame that they are so popular. When I had my allotment I had one that visited me on a regular basis and sat on the handle of my spade until I fed it some seed. it was brave enough to eat it from my outstretched hand.

Memories are wonderful things. While thinking of this event and these tales I found my mind wandering to another time when in one of my "banter sessions"  I had with my students that many such tales came up and were debated. I had these sessions because it gave us a chance to relax but it also built up a rapport.  it also allowed us to discuss things that would not have appeared in our normal study and often led to some meaningful moments.

The idea was that they could ask me any question on any subject, and we would together try and find an acceptable answer. 

Their questions were typical of ones I had received in similar sessions scores of times before. What I remembered was one occasion where one girl who always sat  as far to the outer edge of the circle as possible. She was a student who had never said anything in any such sessions before, raised her hand. 

Now she seemed desperate to speak she said, "The Bible says God loves everybody. Then it says that God sends people to hell. How can a loving God do that?" 

Of course,  there were many opinions and answers from the out and out rubbish type, to the fairly well argued theological arguments. At first, I was very happy with how it was going many students making valid contributions.

But no matter the answers she came back with her own arguments. She got angrier and angrier and more aggressive. The other students became wary and the discussion became a straight argument between her and me.

I answered her arguments, and she answered my answers. In the end, it became obvious that there would never be an answer that she would be content with. I brought the discussion to a close and dismissed the session. 

As the glass began to leave I approached her and said, "I owe you an apology. I really should not have allowed our discussion to become so argumentative." It transpired that she really just wanted convinced that there was no such thing as a hell where people were to be punished for their sins.

It was then that this high school senior admitted she had been having an affair with a married man. She was in despair of what consequences she might face. I told her another story about a robin where the ending was that the red breast was to hide a red face. I was not being at all flippant and told her in all honesty what I believed that we all make mistakes in life some much more serious than others but she had become aware of a mistake she had made and was feeling sorry about it. 

I smiled and told her that even if there was a place called hell I was one hundred percent sure she was not going there. She smiled and said then you and left. The little robin had come to my rescue again.

There is not one of us alive who does not have a skeleton or two in the back cupboard of our lives but guilt is a terrible harbinger of unwarranted pain. 

Again as my favourite sage says, "Do not dwell on the mistakes of the past but make them the lessons of the morrow." In other simpler words do not allow past errors to spoil the day.

Have a marvellous day.

A little at a time.

I was captivated by the light shining through the trees along the very narrow path on my walk. This little narrow path stretches out before me no room for more that one person so single file walking is the order of the day. From joining the path until the turn is exactly one mile in length.

That is one way of looking at the path but not the only way to look at it. Along the path, there are a number of points where a track from another path comes in and joins this one. So this stretch can be easily taken in smaller stages rather than thinking of the mile yet to come. it can be made even simpler by allowing the eye to dwell for a moment on the little river that runs parallel with it. Another thing is to listen to the variety of many birds that are always competing in song. Or there is that busy little red squirrel seeking some of the food it stored away before the turning of the weather. 

I have had three people saying to me in the last few days that they wished that they could paint the beautiful things of nature they see day in and day out. My answer is always the same. "Then do it. Everybody can paint." I am often then faced with the other familiar comment. "I cannot even draw and never have been able to." My answer to this is always the same again, "Of course you can, just give it a try."

So let me return to the path depicted above. Let me tell you something else about this beautiful little path. It can be painted using no more than five colours. One of the biggest mistakes made by those who would love to paint but say they cannot is complicating the task by making it too complex with too many colours.

You cannot draw? Then start simple. Look at that tree standing almost in the centre? Start with that, two straight lines not even a side branch and three colours one dark and two light. Simple is it not? Once you can paint one it gets simpler to paint others. 

It is like life. We complicate things and make what is not difficult seem like a nightmare. We fret not about the next two minutes or the next ten steps but about the next week or the rest of the month. The bigger the period we stretch our thought the tougher life gets to be. 

I met a lady the other day who in a conversation, after my saying it was so good to be alive, said that we all had to die at some time and she was afraid of that thought. Now she had a point but hopefully, it will not be today or in the next hour so why spoil that moment by thinking of something we have little or no control over.

We have a marvellous ability to take something that could be simple and making it very difficult. 

I suspect that some art teachers have much to answer for. Every one I ever had trying to teach me always set me a task I could never manage with a large selection of blocks of cheap watercolour paint. I detested art lessons and could never draw or paint and always belied it would always be that way. There were some fellow pupils who could, strangely most of them no longer do and here I am talking to you about doing it.

The great sage I try very hard to follow put it this way. "Tackle difficulties when they are easy. Accomplish great things when they are as yet small. Handle what is going to get rough when it is still in a smooth state." Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching. (my own translation.)

It is like life all will go well if it is kept simple and a stage at a time.

Have a wonderful day go on try my little tiny challenge. 

Just a little gift.

I was captivated more than once yesterday on my walk. I parked the car and headed out along the coastal path from Kirkcaldy to Kinghorn. The sun blessed me and shone on my face the waves rolled into the shore and the seals basked in the sun making happy cheerful noises.

As I neared my furthest out point where I would turn and head for the start point I saw a couple collecting from the beach. I enquired what they were gathering? She was an artist and he the husband said to me," I am doing what I am told I am collecting sea smoothed glass. But it is one gift I know I can get correct and bring her pleasure." She smiled and it was obvious he had hit the nail right on the head. 

It seemed that this particular beach, for some reason, always had many little bits of broken glass polished smooth by the tides and waves. They also came in assorted colours and sizes. She gathered them every now and then and turned them into beautiful mosaics.

Not long after I met a lady weeding in the flower beds doing her little bit for the community. In the flower bed, there were two mosaics she had been given by the lady who I spoke to collecting glass. She had been impressed that this old lady on a regular basis cleared the beds of weeds and had gifted her two of her mosaics, which in turn brought the gift to others who like me saw them and enjoyed.

The old lady invited me into her home where I was shown yet another mosaic. 

I left with a real feeling of pleasure that I had been blessed with a beautiful day the wonder of nature and had met people who shared the gift of time to others. 

As I walked a little further on I saw a robin sitting on the gatepost of the kissing gate I was about to go through. it stayed there as I quietly and gently passed through. 

I thought of the old tale of the robin and its redbreast.

One year the winter was very cold. There was thick snow on the trees.

The poor birds could hardly find anything to eat. All the birds sat together to discuss the problem.

The robin had an idea, “I will go and ask the people who live in those houses to give us some crumbs.” 

Saying so, he went to one of the houses nearby. A man was working in the garden. The robin went and perched very close to him. The other birds were afraid to go near humans, but the robin was brave. When the man saw the friendly robin he brought him a tray full of crumbs. The robin felt very happy and called all the other birds to eat with it. 

In this way all through the winter, the robin arranged food for the other birds.

When the winter season was over, in order to thank the robin, all the birds gifted him a red waistcoat and since then, he came to be known as Robin Redbreast.

Yes, I know not true but a nice tale.  I am sure I could go on for longer about how easily a little thought and gift can carry on from one to another. 

Before heading home I popped into the supermarket and with the two items headed to the checkout. The two women sitting at the two tills were looking somewhat glum. I said, "Cheer up it is such a beautiful day." One of them replied, "But we are stuck in here."

"Yes I said and I am out there enjoying it, but then I am an old coffin dodger not a young fair lady with a whole life in front of me."  The two burst out laughing and still were when I left. One of them said to me, "You have brightened my day you old coffin dodger."

You see the only gift need is a little portion of yourself to lift the heart of another.

Have a marvellous day, whom will you surprise with the gift of a piece of yourself?

The richest man alive!

The Joys of Life.

This little painting consists of just a few lines and yet it flows as if music was pouring through its very heart. The interesting thing about this painting is not what you see but what is missing, what you do not see. The spaces and gaps are equally as important as the lines that are present. 

The eye of the viewer fills in all of the gaps and so for each of us, this painting will be different because of how we fill the gaps. is it male or female? is it dancing or skating on ice? What nationality is the person? So the questions go on.

The other day there in my study time mention was made of the of the Rich Young Ruler and his obviously wrong choice, and it set me thinking. 

No matter how much wealth he had, he could not, ride in a car, have any surgery, turn on a light, buy penicillin, hear a pipe organ, watch TV, wash dishes in running water, type a letter, mow a lawn, fly in an airplane, sleep on an innerspring mattress, or talk on the phone, he could not talk by text to people on the other side of the world.

If he was rich, then what am I?

Just before I get out of bed in the early hours of the morning I catch the news on the radio. This is followed by chat from various Asset Managers talking about the fluctuations of the stock exchange of bonds and assets, I listen little because it means little to me and I find the chat gobbledegook.  

How rich is rich? According to a survey by those same people who seem to know, the answer is £1 million to £5 million in assets. 

Investment managers sponsored the survey of people who stand to give or receive inheritances (median household assets: £500,000). Paradoxically, 55% of those whose assets ranged from £1 million to £5 million don't consider themselves wealthy. It also seems they have no comprehension whatsoever of what it means to not be so, "blessed." 

Sadly they are the ones who are governing our countries and make decisions that affect the lives of us all. 

The difference between playing the stock market and the horses is that one of the horses must win. 

Not that I would know much about either. 

So how am I rich? I am rich because I am surrounded by people who care for me. I am rich because I can walk from the door of the house I own and before three minutes I am looking at the mountains often enveloped in an ethereal beauty that takes my breath away. I am rich because I can listen to music that makes my inner being long to dance and sing. I am rich because above all I know I am loved.

I measure my wealth not by the things I have, but by the things I have for which I would not take money, no matter what the offer was. 

I thank you, my friends, for being a part of my wealth. have a great day. Remember it is not always what is there that makes the story but what is missing. 

The great news we have been waiting for

I saw this picture of a badger and just could not resist painting it. Before anybody makes any comment I am well aware that snowdrops and poppies never flower at the same time but in my head and in my world that is not a problem.

The world is changing anyway we are told day after day by politicians that we have to stop worrying about the planet or the environment. There is no problem all this talk about what is happening is nothing but fake news. All will be well.

Of course, I was not believing a word of it but then I read this piece of marvellous research.

The quest for a perfect energy source has now been discovered by students at a world-renowned university. It is called "Leaf,2.3." 

It could soon replace all the leaves in existence and do a better job at cleaning our air. It works the same way as a regular leaf, by taking in carbon and releasing oxygen. It can also be used to charge your phone and boost your WiFi.

"Nature really didn't know how to make anything," says Clark McDunglebuns PhD., Professor of Leaf-Sciences. 

"What we have here is a leaf that doesn't need any of that rubbish from nature, and if we don't need nature, then all of these trees are now completely obsolete. 

Deforestation will not be an issue anymore. Companies and corporations all across the world can go out to the Amazon, the Congo, and all those other little countries like Thailand and Singapore; they can strip-mine the heck out of them and all we have to do is make this Bionic Leaf!

Professor McDunglebuns and his team of mostly legal students have been working on their "Robo-Leaf" for the better part of four years. However, this does not mean that they have not had any opposition. A branch of Green Peace called Remember Da Timber has had a growing dislike for this grass-roots effort. Their ire first sprouted when the research team announced they would not make bark or flowers.

To be sure, the future is here, and it is out with the old and in with the new.

What a big relief to read this. I can now go out for my daily walk and no longer will my heart be breaking when I see all the plastic bottles littering the side of the trails. I can relax and know that all is going to be fine. 

The little badgers in the woodland a mile from my home will no longer need me to leave food for them. Rejoice all is well. Do not believe in the fake news.

Now if you believe all of this I wish you a joyful life. Sadly this is the fake news and the reality is that my daily walk brings much pain to my heart as I see what we are doing to creation. 

I started by saying that I was aware that these two flowers never bloom together but in my world they do. Sadly it is not as simple as my magic paintbrushes. I cannot clean up the world we all need to be involved each playing out little part. This is the real news.

Will you join me and give me a hand. Every plastic bottle lifted every bit of litter lifted is a very small part but if we all did it maybe the minority of thoughtless people will get the message. 

My apologies for this rant but my heart genuinely weeps every day when I see what is happening.

Have a great day my friends and enjoy this world of beauty before it is too late.

The Chains of Life.

The other day there I was talking about my father in law learning to drive. He had come to it rather later in life but was anxious to learn. 

It was agreed that I would go out with him not to teach him but to help him reinforce the lessons he had had. The thing was that I noticed almost immediately that he had picked up a very bad habit. On approaching a corner he should have changed down a gear in preparation for taking the corner. He did not do this he waited until he was at the bend and changed gear while making the turn. No matter how often I told him about this he continued to do it.

Having passed his test, with this habit that must have slipped the examiners notice, he continued to follow this habit and frequently stalled the car on bends.

Bad habits are so easy to acquire and hard to get rid of. 

It is a well-known fact how easily a child of three or four picks up a foreign language if exposed to it without any formal teaching. Yet we are unwilling to admit that a child of the same age picks up our unconscious attitudes and prejudices without being taught and often retains these longer than any of the formal education.

Two tadpoles, Ted and Todd, hatched from the same batch of eggs.

They swam around excitedly, wiggling their little tails with great enthusiasm.

They swam up to their mum and exclaimed, “Look what we can do, look why we can do.”

The mother frog looked at the two tadpoles with great pride and called them closer. She then explained the process of metamorphosis and how they will eventually lose their tail and grow legs.

This news impacted the tadpoles differently.

Ted was excited about the future and continued to swim with energy and enthusiasm, occasionally looking back to see when his legs would start forming.

Todd, however, thought to himself, “What’s the point of exercising my tail? It’s only going to drop off eventually anyway.”

As a result, Ted kept strengthening his tail and increasing his stamina, but Todd’s tail got weaker and his energy levels dropped.

The mother frog took Todd to one side and suggested that he start using his tail more.

“But what’s the point? It’s only going to drop off anyway,” Todd replied.

After a little while, the two tadpoles’ tails dropped off and their legs grew.

Ted was excited and hopped around with energy and enthusiasm.  The consistent and energetic use of his tail had equipped him for this development.

Todd was less enthused. He was sort of glad that he now had legs, but he just didn’t have the energy to use them.

He didn’t know why, he just couldn’t be bothered.

There are times in life when we are being prepared for the future, but it’s not always in the ways we expect.

When we are learning calculus or ancient history in high school, we aren’t learning it because we are going to use it, but because the skills of learning will be valuable in the future.

When we start work, we do menial and low-level tasks, not because it’s the best use of our skills or because it’s what we learned to do in our previous studies, but because we will develop the necessary work ethic and level of initiative for later in our careers.

So the next time you think to yourself, “What’s the point? I’m never going to use this in the future,” remember the lesson of the two tadpoles.

Remember that the habits you form today will make a significant difference to your levels of success in the future.

Sadly I have in my life watched many a good person reduced to so much less than their potential because of the habits that became addictions. 

So one or two little thoughts about habits.

Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it every day, and at last, we cannot break it.

The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. 

Bad habits are like comfortable beds--easy to get into but hard to get out of. I suppose that is why I get out of bed at 6am every day.

Have a marvellous day.

Never too late to learn.

Those birds again have persuaded me to paint them.

As I have said often before I found learning very difficult in my early days of education, fortunately, it was not the same when I really did want to learn and in that lies the difference.

When I became a teacher I was very conscious of the fact that just because I wanted to teach not everybody before me was going to learn until I discovered how to motivate and inspire students to want to learn.  I also knew that in life there are some who just think they already know and there is nothing they can be taught.

Two very good friends were sitting enjoying an ale together. The news came on the television just above their heads. The broadcast was showing a man standing on a ledge of a very high roof. The police and fire brigade were up there trying to persuade him not to jump.

One of the friends turned to the other, "I wager you ten pounds he jumps." The friend says,,"I will take the wager that he does not jump.'

As they watch the man jumps. The loser of the wager hands over the ten-pound note. The winner says,"I cannot take your money, I saw this on the six o'clock news and saw him jump."  His friend says, "I saw that also but I did not think he would be silly enough to do it twice."

I learned that as a teacher there were stages of learning. In the beginning, you learn the right answers. In the second state you learn the right questions. In the third and final stage, you learn which questions are worth asking. 

To help the process along I always remembered that, tell the student and most will forget. Show me the student and some may remember. But involve the student and most will understand and learn.

Visual lessons are often simpler than just a great many words. My son and I were raking up leaves in the church grounds one day when a flock of geese flew overhead. I pointed and said, "Do you see how they fly in the letter V?"  he looked and thought for a moment, "Clever do they know any other letters?"

So some of the wonderful lessons I have learned through lives experience.

That you cannot make someone love you.
All you can do is be someone who can be loved.
The rest is up to them.

That it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.

That you shouldn't compare yourself to the best others can do but to the best you can do.

That it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

That you should always leave the ones you love with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

That learning to forgive takes practice. 

And lastly and maybe most importantly. That it's not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.

Have a wonderful and remember what my friend Jim has said more than once, Every day is a school day. 

To be confident is a good thing.

I am aware that this is a painting I have used before but I have been working on a portrait of my wee birds and I ran out of time to do any other. But I have noticed that they have managed to fly from another painting into this one while I was not watching. They seem to be growing in confidence those little birds. I might have to find names for them because my little collection of children's stories about them is growing. 

I will have to take them aside though and warn them about this growing confidence to appear in every painting. If they get overconfident there might be no stopping them.

It was Arnold Palmer who told the story about getting too sure of yourself. This is his account of the event.

"It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. 

As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, "Congratulations." I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus.

On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trap, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. 

You do not forget a mistake like that, you just learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again. I haven't in the years since." he said.

A minister was sitting in his study aware that he was to get a delivery of a parcel that day. He had made very sure that the parcel that was to be delivered would have no identifying marks from the sender. He had gone to great lengths to give packing instructions and to make sure the package was clearly marked, "Bibles." He was very confident that his instructions would have been followed.

There was a knock at the door of the manse so he hurried down to collect his parcel. As he opened the door the delivery man stood with a large heavy box in his arms. "Ah, that will be the bibles I am expecting. Thank you so much."

"Bibles?" said the man, "Well I am very sorry to tell you minister but your bibles are leaking."

It was the last day of school before the summer vacation. The pupils were all excited and most of them had a little present for the teacher. 

The first boy, the son of the local florist, handed her a gift. She held it abover her head and with great confidence said, "This is flowers, how nice." " How did you know that said the lad?" "Just a good guess," said the teacher.

The second pupil came forward with a gift. Helen was the daughter of the local confectioner. Again she held the gift above her head. Again with great confidence pronounced it was a box of sweeties. Once more she told them she was good at guessing. 

Tom brought his gift forward. Once more the teacher held it above her head. She noticed it was a bit wet. The father of Tom owned the local bar. The teacher put her finger to the damp spot and licked it. "it is wine she said with confidence." "No," said the excited Tom.

She put her finger back on the damp spot and took a bigger taste. "It is champagne!" 

"No," said Tom. "What is it?"  asked the teacher. "A puppy." said Tom.

There is nothing wrong with being sure of your facts and nothing at all wrong with having the confidence of your convictions but it never pays to be over confident, you might end up eating yellow snow.

Have a marvellous day.

To take a little risk.

I was asked why the wee birds were always apart? So here they are getting up close and personal. Now how can I develop a childlike story from that I wonder?

I made one of the most terrible of mistakes yesterday and I feel terrible today because I did. I assumed something of the motives of a person and I learned how wrong I was. I prejudged somebody, something I am not usually guilty of. Let me explain in a little tale. 

It had been a very hard day for PC Robert as he headed home to his family. He was concerned about where policing was heading, he seemed to spend more and more time filling in forms and writing reports. What had happened to the days when he began on the beat. Those days where he knew everybody and a word from him solved many problems before they even became big problems that needed reports written for. 

How he longed for those days again. He began to wonder what Georgie had ready for him he was looking forward to a nice meal and some quiet time at home. Just then a car came round the corner and shouted at him, "Pig." This was just what he needed as he thought the day was over. Should he about-turn and make chase? He should not have to have such abuse. 

Just as he was about to speed up and go after the car a large pig rounded the bend. How easily he could have ended up in an accident with a pig. he had not been insulted he had been in fact warned of danger. 

How easily we can jump to the wrong conclusions about another person and in so doing act in the wrong manner. How often we do in fact jump to the wrong conclusions about others. 

Why do we do this? often because of our own insecurity our own fears. We automatically jump to our defence having heard not what was said but what we expected to hear. Another reason is we jump to judgement of others. We see people and we expect them to act in a certain way and we, therefore, act in response to this false judgement.

Prejudge is a terrible thing and yet we can see it daily. Honest communication requires trust and taking a risk. And we’ve been burned too many times. So we settle for safety, make the natural assumption, and run head-on into our own version of that pig as we journey down life’s highway

There is a better way the way of taking risks. The risk of giving others a chance before we jump to the wrong conclusions.

But in this lies further risks.

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. 

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. 

To reach out for another is to risk involvement. 

To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. 

To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss. 

To love is to risk not being loved in return. 

To live is to risk dying. 

To hope is to risk despair. 

To try is to risk failure. 

But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. 

The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing and is nothing. 

They may avoid suffering and sorrow but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live. Only a person who risks is free.

That doesn’t mean we should be naive. It does mean we should be careful what we assume. Check it out. Give others the benefit of the doubt. And if someone shouts something unexpected at us, at least entertain the possibility that perhaps it may be more than a personal insult. 

Who knows, that approach could change our lives.  The stranger dressed so differently from you. The stranger that looks a bit of an oddball. 

That stranger is just the friend you have not yet met. 

Have a marvellous day my friends.