Thoughts From An Ever Changing World

Silly Lorna forgot a very important piece of information for you all:
She is going to be living on Iona next year!

Starting 30th January (2010!) I'm going to be Hospitality Team Support Worker for the Iona Community. 'Tis a year long contract, involving work between the kitchen and housekeeping teams in both the MacLeod Centre and Abbey...

YAY!!

Good question! Since she last blogged months ago, what has Lorna been doing? Would you like to know? If so, you may have to read a lot. She will try to keep it short but she may completely fail as there is a lot to be said! She also does not know why she is calling herself 'she' and not 'I', but it appears interesting to her just now.
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Wed 15th July '09 - Lorna set off on a trip to an unknown, unseen, unspoken of little island off the coa... oh wait, that's a lie! Lorna set off to Iona!
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6 weeks on Iona - a lot of information that will need to come later as Lorna is very sleepy whilst typing this.
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Tues 25th Aug '09 - Lorna left the little isle and set off on an adventure to the big scary city of Glasgow, taking with her Cal and Eilidh... sleepy Cal and Eilidh. Lorna eventually, after many wrong turns, one way street dilemmas and u-turns, returned home to Edinburgh to find that the roads around her flat were closed off and covered in trucks, machinery, railings and grit.
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Wed 26th Aug '09 - Lorna was stupidly busy and totally forgot that unpacking, washing and repacking would be a good idea before midnight. Lunch with Ruth, shopping and tea with Paul, dinner with Ben and Justine, a visit to Alison and Nick... then home to pack up again.
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Thur 27th Aug '09 - Lorna set off on another scary (even more scary that Glasgow and Edinburgh) adventure with Ruth, to Greenbelt, Cheltenham Racecourse. Stopping over at Al's on the way (with his mum's amazing cake and an awesome dog, Sprite), they arrived at Greenbelt on the Friday to be greeted with a half hour traffic jam before hunting for a spot to pitch their tent. They were lucky.
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4 days at Greenbelt - More info to follow if Lorna remembers when she is less sleepy.
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Tues1st Sept '09 - Lorna and Ruth started the day with a massive breakfast, a visit to Jen and Jack and a 7 hour drive home in terrential rain and lorry spray. You don't know how glad they were to see showers again.
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Wed 2nd Sept '09 - Lorna reckons this will be a day of rest... which will turn in to a week of rest...

www.justgiving.com/lornabowry

A poetic thought to ponder on from Rolinka:

"I want to talk to a stranger, to understand myself..."

I know this will be hard for you...but guess where I have just been?
Ah, yes, Iona...
Another fantastic two weeks.

Week one: I had a lovely room to myself (which doesn't happen often!), loads of great friends around, lots of work to do, too much tea to drink, lots of sun shining down, a good night at the hostel, a lovely boat trip around the island with all staff, some music recording and general Iona amazingness.

Week two: I moved to a room in Cul Shuna (with two lovely vollies), spent a night in Oban, got to know some of the other vollies really well and built some great bonds, enjoyed working with Alison (not just doing her job when she was away!), spent some time with my guitar, enjoyed some time lying on the jetty, watched some films and had some great chats with many inspiration people.

Now I am back in Edinburgh for a while: doing craft things, attending graduation things, helping people move houses, enjoying the sun when it's out, tidying up my room (honestly I will!), planning my travel adventures for later in the year, going to Glasgow and other placer to see friends, buying stationary and enjoying some good take-aways.

And throughout all of this, Pirate the Parrot (who, by the way, is actually a puppet), has been travelling around the UK also. He is on a massive journey in life. He would like to travel the world, bit by bit. (Although I would also like to do this, he is cheaper to send!) If you would like to escort Pirate to somewhere interesting, please let me know. He has a facebook group called 'Pirate the Parrot' if you would like to keep up to date with where he has been!

Is it just me, or are people fascinating? To watch, to listen to, to communicate with, to live with, to learn of.

When sitting in a cafe, do you ever play 'people' games? Guess the profession? Guess where they are from? Guess the car they drive? Guess how many kids they have? I love to play these games; to observe people and ponder on what they are like, what type of person they are, and how much you can tell about them just from the way they look, walk, talk, act. Fascinating.

There are people I unerstand. There are people I don't understand. And today has been a day of not understanding. Hands down your tracksuit trousers (especially in public); what is the need? High heels that you clearly can't walk in; why wear them? Going out for lunch with a few friends and hardly talking to each other; do you really want to be there? Swearing at people you don't know as they pass you by in their cars; why be so rude? I don't get people. 

I guess that's why my friends are my friends; they are the people I understand.

So, according to John this morning, the church needs to have 5 sides to it to make it pleasing to God, make it a whole community, a living church, a church that makes a difference and engages with the world.

What are those 5 sides?

Apostels - those who like to explore and who dream the dreams.
Prophets - those who like to be alone with God and are creative.
Evangelists - those who like to talk about their faith.
Pastors - those who care for others, are good at listening and speaking the truth.
Teachers - those who like to study and share their knowledge.

These gifts being brought together brings unity and fullness of life to a community, and makes the body of the church whole.

You can have a base gift; one of those 5 in which you are most likely to be, which you are most likely to live out. But that doesn't mean you stick to just that base gift; you can also explore those other 'phase' gifts and discover what else you can get involved in, outside of your comfort zones.

So, if any, which one are you?

"What you are is God's gift to you. What you do with yourself is your gift to God."

I've been thinking about tea. Tea tastes. And I have come up with a question to ponder on:
How does every person manage to make a cup of tea taste so different even if they use the same type of tea bag?
Is it the mug? Is it the milk? Is it the sugar? Is it what gets put in the mug first? Is it what gets put in the mug last? Is it for how long it's stirred? Is it for how long its stewed? Is it the temperature of the water? Is it all of these put together?

After spending a lot of time on Iona, and having an awful lot of tea made for you, you learn to appreciate lots of different tastes of tea, even though everyone uses the same tea bags. And after sitting at a craft fair today and having someone make me a cup of tea just after I've finished one I made myself, it made me again realise how different it's made. And after Sarah's mum making me tea and Sarah's dad making me tea (from the same tea bag box) I realised that they really taste very different. It's not just that one cup of tea, it's that persons tea making. Alison's = strong, a bit thick tasting and boiling. Nick's = sugary, middle strength and warm-hot. Dad's = (usually missing sugar!) strong and really hot. Sarah's = sugary and somewhere between hot and really hot. Eilidh's = not too sugary, quite milky and a good drinking temperature (but not so good if you forget it's been made!) Elizabeths = strong and hot. Davids = drinkably hot and good strength, not so sugary. Heather - not so sugary and not so milky.

See, all people make tea differently and I am (yes, I really am sad) so able to tell who made me that certain cup of tea. But why is it? Why is everybody's tea making so different? Answers on a postcard... or just a comment!

I asked lovely Auntie Laura what I could have a wee rant on, and she sent me a link to a great article... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8081829.stm Have a wee read and see if you find it as cute as I did. But all I have to say is... silly rights activists!

My friends (is that what you call people who wind you up about things?!) have a wee song that they like to sing to me which goes something like this ... "OCD, OCD, She's got OCD".

Do you think they are trying to tell me something?

Is it something to do with the fact that I like to make sure the hymn books, abbey worship books and information leaflets are in the same order in every chair in the Abbey?
Possibly that I'm a bit picky about how the soup bowls are stacked, with the handles facing the same way and the same type of bowl in each pile?
Maybe that I like the big mugs to be on one tray and the smaller mugs to be on another? Possibly that I think the plates at each dinner table should be the same type, and that the knifes need to be of the same kind (not some fat handled and some thin handled on the same table)?
Maybe that I'm a bit picky when it comes to the order in which paper work should be kept? Possibly that I like to organise things, anything really, in my spare time?
Maybe it's that I like things to be in an order of come kind; colour, height, size, price? Possibly it's something to do with the annoying little things that I have to do repeatedly; counting colours of stripes on bags, counting window panes on doors, tracing lettering on posters with my eyes, folding clothes and towels, straightening my necklace, retyping things even though it was right the first time?

Ok, so I admit it. After easily making such a long list of things, I have OCD in various bits of my life. I hope this makes it clear to those certain unnamed people (Eilidh and Sarah!) who like to sing me my OCD song that I don't mind, it's ok, I admit that I have it, so them singing the song is just the truth after all. The singing of the song will not take my picky-ness away from me! And it won't make me love them any less either!