Retreat...

Last week I took out time once more to go and 'chill' up in Newcastle. Time alone with me, my thoughts and I...and of course my God. Once more I loved driving through the Mournes...I even took a wee walk up Butter Mountain...not quite reaching the top, even though it was just within reach!! Surveying the beautiful mountain scenery around me. I definitely think this is where God does some of His thinking and planning. Walking in the cool of the evening through the Mournes :)


I also did some more star gazing...when it wasnt raining...lying out in the garden staring up at the bright, clear night sky. I could do that for hours and never lose the awe and majesty of it all. And my time there was rewarded with lots of shooting stars. The first being the most spectacular, it just burst across the sky seeming like it was on fire just above me...awesome =]

Then there was the tree I spoke about the last time, as I watched the leaves appear in front of me in the warm Spring sunshine. It was now fully covered in thick green leaves and 'helicopters' ready to fall in the fast approaching Autumn. Makes you wonder why they go to all that bother...all that effort for the leaves to come out...then in a couple of short months they will be strewn across the ground withered and brown. But that's the cycle that tree's go through...blossoming life and then what can so often look like a barren death in the cold hard winter...but no...deep down in the heart of the tree that blossoming life is waiting and preparing to burst forth once more. So often our lives can feel like that...a barren wasteland, a desert but deep down if we search for it in our hearts and in our souls that blossoming life and spirit that God has placed within us is waiting to burst forth, with lots of help from Him...no matter what season it is!!

New growth and a spectacular sunset...

Another sunny day after a slightly worrying start!! Yet I was able to spend all afternoon in the garden reading and making the most of the rays!!

As the afternoon progressed I suddenly realised that the big tree at our gateway which had been bare that morning now had some very big and quite prominent buds.



A little later I moved to sit under the tree and looking up I could see a few little green leaves starting to appear.



This just amazed me that I had been able to see the progression actually happening...from bare to buds opening and leaves appearing in the warm spring afternoon sun...quite literally God’s handiwork in creation in action.

In the early evening I thought I would take a drive into the Mournes visiting some of my favourite places along the way. I drove out through Bryansford, past Tolleymore, past the Trassey track, up on to the road leading to Spelga Dam past Fofanny Dam. As I drove along here I couldn’t help but smile as if I’d been in a car with my Dad I would have heard that usual tale of how my Grandfather had transported all the electricity poles out along this stretch of country many years ago when they were first putting up the lines. A little piece of family history! As I got closer to Spelga the sun was starting to go down behind the mountains, blazing gold out across the countryside...just stunning.




Parking up on the road I walked for a few minutes up the slope to try and get a better view...I found me another rock and took a seat to watch as each moment the Greatest Artist changed the magnificent picture before me.