Cracking up

Phase two of the sabbatical started today as I settled into a new weekly rhythm of reading, praying, writing and building a poustinia (more of which anon, mesuspects).

Anyway, this meant that I shot off to the wilds of Cumbria to chateau poustinik and have enjoyed a combination of practical tasks and reviewing the material that I have been scribbling. The biggest shock, though, was the state of my chimney. I don’t know how well you can make it out in the photograph but it has shattered. Either the RAF have been flying even lower than normal or the ceramic has simply exploded in the extreme cold we have had and I have not noticed ’til now. The chimney looks like it has a geriatric tooth in an advanced state of decay sticking out the top of it.

Apart from the fact that I am glad that nobody was standing underneath it when it plummeted earth-wards it has made me think about fragility and sturdiness. I have never heard of a chimney pot exploding. It has never crossed my mind that it might. There are other things I worry about on the house, but not the chimney. It is the same with people, I realise. Those places where people appear weak are often the places where there is an extraordinary reserve of strength. The times when people crumble normally come as a shock.

I guess I have to be honest and say that the same dynamic is at work in me. In God’s grace there is great strength where I feel weakest but, perhaps because I don’t feel the need of support, where I am strong I often stumble.

So the challenge… well apart from having to clamber on the roof AGAIN, I guess it is to reflect more on where strength and weakness really lie. They are odd things those two.