Musings on Friendship

This is probably not the most cohesive post I've ever written, but it's from the heart, and that's what matters, right?

I’ve always thought friends were important, but I think the past year in particular has reinforced this truth. I'm sure I've mentioned my friends several times in previous posts, and maybe you’re getting a bit bored of it, but sometimes I simply can’t help it. I do try to make a point of appreciating everything I have, but this is about more than just that.

It's a difficult thing to admit, but I’ve not always had an easy ride when it comes to friendships. I’ve moved around a few times, leaving friends behind more than once. I made a best friend when I was seven, who left for boarding school when I was ten. Secondary school was better, but even there I always found it hard to fit in. With a few exceptions, it wasn’t really until sixth form that I felt like I had a great friendship group.

They say that at uni you meet the people you will be friends with for life. I have been fortunate enough to have met a few people like this already during my school years. Even after being away at uni we can still meet up and get on just as easily.

I think though that when I started uni, I realised just what making friends for life meant.

Being at university is such an intense experience in many ways and it is that massive life change that brings people together; some likeminded (in some cases incredibly so), others not at all, but the connections that are established often run deep regardless. For me they have, anyway.

There are the friends I talk for hours with over tea or coffee. The friends who help me to grow in my faith. The friends I laugh with over a chick flick. Some of them I would love to get to know better next term. Others I feel I have known for years and years and can't imagine not knowing.

There’s a quote somewhere that goes something like this- ‘friends are the family you choose for yourself’. In many cases I have found this to be true.

Of course, being brothers and sisters in Christ, Christians are called to love one another like family, and what I love about my small group, for example, is that this really comes across. The genuine care, support and affection we all share is such a joy to experience, and has helped me through many a hard time during my first year.

I have been extremely blessed with good friends this year- God knew exactly what I needed.  It’s really made me realise just how much of a difference friendships make in life. Life, after all, is not made up only of what we do or where we are, but of the people who surround us. I’m not one of these people who need to be around others all the time; I appreciate my own space. But I suppose I just wanted to take a moment to share how much my friends have meant to me, as sentimental as that may sound, and to my friends who are reading this, know how thankful I am to have you all.

I hope each of you reading this is fortunate enough to be equally blessed in your friendships. I hope you have, or will find someday, friends who will laugh with you. Cry with you. Truly understand you. Stand with you through hard times. Bring out the best in you. Share your hopes and dreams.

If this isn’t how it is for you, have patience and take heart. Loneliness has to be the most awful feeling in the world, from my own experience, and no-one deserves to feel that way. But good things will come to those who wait.

Take time to appreciate the people who mean most to you.

Love

C. 

Mini Ireland Adventure- Part II

Hello again everyone!

Here is part II of my Ireland photos. As I said in my last post, Laura and I went to Belfast on Monday and had an awesome time!

Belfast is only a forty minute drive or so from Bangor so Laura's auntie dropped us off and left us to it. We started out by visiting the Ulster Museum which was really cool. The best part was definitely the Da Vinci drawings exhibition- sadly I wasn't allowed to take photos but it was such a privilege seeing real Da Vincis up close!

We started off looking at stuffed animals. I'm quite fond of wolves.

This poor buddy used to live at Belfast zoo... I can't believe they used to keep polar bears in zoos!

Cool car from the 20s.

Mini Ireland Adventure- Part 1!

Good evening ladies and gents! If you're on Facebook, you'll know I have just returned from a mini trip to visit my lovely friend Laura in Northern Ireland! Born in Bangor, she's lived in Hong Kong as a child and then moved to Peterborough, where we met when we were about nine. We went to the same church and later the same secondary school, and have been friends ever since.

Laura's always been an Irish girl at heart so she picked Queen's Belfast as her Uni of choice, and now lives out there with her aunt and cousin, so I don't see her very often.

Fortunately I was able to take a few days off work though, and took the opportunity to go and pay her a short visit! It was so good to see her, and we got along so easily as though neither of us had been away for long. Those are the best kind of friends, aren't they? The dynamic I have with each of my close friends is different- of course, as we are all different people- but the feeling of ease and affection, whether born during the last year at uni or built through growing up together, is the same. I am so thankful for the wonderful friends I have.

This was my first time visiting Ireland so it was all very exciting. Laura lives in Ballyholme, which is a little seaside town just outside of Bangor (hometown of Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody in case you didn't know).

I thought I would show you some photos of my trip- starting with Ballyholme and Bangor, and then  moving on to part II with our day out in Belfast!

Hope you enjoy.

When I arrived on Sunday we went straight to Laura's Grandparents' for Sunday lunch- there were some other relatives over from Wales so there were large amounts of delicious food, including this pavlova made by Laura herself and those cute lemon moussey thingys in the background (I'm sorry, bakers among you, I don't remember what they were called!). Laura's family are all great fun and her Granddad was just the sweetest. He was a bit deaf, as Granddads usually are, and very Irish and funny. He kept on asking us both if there were any 'nice boys' at our unis! 

After consuming large amounts of food it was quite necessary to walk it off (and what better place than the beach, which was a five minute walk away?) When I landed at the airport it was raining horrendously (welcome to Ireland), but it cleared up in the evening thankfully!

Photo Friday Part II- English parks

Hello again!
So for part II I just wanted to share some of the photos I've taken in parks over the past couple of weeks. Hope you like them.

Photo Friday Part I - Church fun day/English Summer

Hi everyone! I hope your weeks have not been as crazy as mine. I'm definitely looking forward to a few days off next week- and very very excited to go and visit my friend Laura in Northern Ireland! I've never been to NI before so this will be an adventure- I can't wait to let her show me around Bangor and Belfast!!

If you read my last post you'll know that last Sunday my church held a little fun day event in one of the local villages. The weather was a bit all over the place but even despite a few typical English downpours we all kept smiling and enjoyed the fun.

A Fun Day wouldn't be a Fun Day without a mandatory BBQ, typically sheltered underneath a gazebo and even more typically surrounded by men. Why is it that a kitchen seems to be a woman's domain but men and BBQs are ubiquitous? (First time I've used ubiquitous in a sentence!).

More pics after the jump!

Kids are precious, and I have photos to prove it.

This has been a bit of a hectic week so far- work is crazy and as a family we've been doing a lot of socialising in our free hours. My parents have just gone to Germany for a few days and my brother is at Soul Survivor so I'm taking this opportunity to enjoy some peace and quiet after busy days at work.

On Saturday my church held a fun day in a nearby village, with a BBQ and various games for the kids. More photos to come later this week! Sunday we drove down to St. Albans to visit an old family friend- we hadn't seen him for about nine years! He and his wife now have (non-identical!) twin boys who were very cute.

Yesterday when I came home from work two little girls greeted me at the door showing me their toy hairbrushes. We had a family over for dinner who are over in the UK for a while but actually live in the Ukraine where they do missionary work. Their two girls were adorable, and I took them off their parent's hands for a while. We left out some bread for the birds and then waited inside the conservatory to see if they would come and eat it- they did, and Hannah and Esther were so excited! I thought making them sit quietly to wait would calm them down but once they saw the birds little Esther just wanted to go back for more bread!

Children, as you know, don't keep still for very long but over the past few days I did get a few nice snaps of them all.

Eden, Elijah and a cute blond boy whose name I do not know enjoyed our Olympic themed festivities on Saturday.

A True Lady- Part II

Following on from my post on Proverbs 31, I want to share my thoughts on something that for the most part seems to have gone from society, and that’s the idea of being a ‘lady’. We women often complain about how there aren’t enough gentleman in the world, but I think if we want to retain the right to complain, we need to make sure we’re looking at ourselves first.

This post links in nicely with the last one I think, though no doubt some will find it controversial. 

Oh well. If you disagree, let’s discuss it.

A True Lady- Part I

This post is going to be in two parts, because the points I want to make are sort of separate but linked, if you know what I mean. This is definitely a post for the ladies amongst us, though any gentlemen who are curious are free to read on.

About a month or so back, one of the guys at my home church did a series of sermons on Proverbs. One of the sermons were based on one of my favourites- Proverbs 31- the last chapter in the book.

Many people tend to criticise the bible for subjugating/suppressing women, but for me this passage really contradicts that kind of thinking.

Before you start scratching your heads in confusion, firstly let me clarify that this is NOT a post about marriage, because I’m not exactly qualified in that department, har de har... Someday? I hope so…

I do think that Proverbs 31 is great though because it gives a fine example of what a woman should aspire to be, married or no. And why should we aspire to be so? Well, because it makes the world a much more pleasant place to live in, is one simple reason.

Anyway as I said, I really like this passage, and the sermon on it highlighted some things about it I’d never picked up on before.