Green Patches

Calling The Midwife (2)

There's a newly started discussion thread over on Shipoffools on Call The Midwife for anybody who's interested.

Calling the midwife

 - My late mother's pupil midwife casebook, 1946-7

It's Sunday evening, it's snowy outside, warm and cosy inside and I'm just about to make a Nice Cup of Tea and settle down with the BBC Drama Call The Midwife.

I've written about why the series has a special meaning for me over on my Musings blog on The Wibsite. Do feel free to pop over there.

Silence is golden

At last!  The first episode of the  new documentary The Big Silence, which I blogged about nearly six months ago,  is set to air this Friday on BBC 2. If you live in the UK, that is. I'll be following it with interest, especially in the second programme when, we're told, the participants take part in an eight day silent retreat.

I've   returned from a similar one myself only a few weeks ago, (though mercifully, not accompanied by a camera team!). Mine, too, involved a full eight days more or less in silence; longer than I've been accustomed to before; with a new venue, also, which by its very nature involved a step further into solitude. In a retreat setting I don't have any difficulties with this, seeming to drop into the rhythm of the place quite naturally. The challenges that invariably present themselves in the quietness, however, well, that's quite another matter. They don't always appear to get any easier. Whether or not that's an indicator of greater closeness to God, is open to question. I'd hope the answer would be yes.   And, even as a 'veteran' of nearly seven years to guided retreats,  I still struggle with building those times of quietness and prayer into my daily life.     

So, my sympathies will be with the BBC retreatants and I'm sure I'll find much to reflect on and learn about from their experiences.

Slow Down - 'The Silence'

Coming soon - if you live in the UK  - to a TV near you, 'The Silence,'
 In a new three-part documentary series, The Silence, five people attempt to put silence at the heart of their everyday, busy lives and learn what to do with it once it's there. The series investigates just why "peace and quiet" is so elusive, and in doing so opens up a debate about why some people try to avoid silence because of the reflection that it may bring. Do people construct layers of noise, or "busy-ness" to dull the anxieties of the modern world? The Silence looks at what might happen to the inner self when people keep quiet. "
Now that we've recovered from our holiday, I've been enjoying the current sunny spell. It seems to have given me an unexpected burst of energy so the last few days have seen me catching up on all sorts of jobs that I'd been  neglecting for ages. One of which was to highlight this upcoming series. From the clip it looks to be along similar lines as the popular The Monastry and The Convent. I'll certainly be watching if I can. Both these programmes, as for many I'd suspect, have had not a little influence on my own journey, both into TSSF and generally. 

My own particular challenge to incorporate silence into my everyday lives is coming up very soon as I take part in a Week of Accompanied Prayer   as part of my course, (I meet my prayer guide on Friday). It'll be a new experience for me, even if I am a fair old veteran of guided retreats by now. Not insignificantly for all of us taking part, it's scheduled just before our final term - an introduction to training for spiritual direction. We received some initial material for the latter last night and I'll admit to a teensiest wobble of self-doubt. 'Be still and know...' is the only way to go, I reckon!

A new beginning?

Be conscious of God, and  speak always the truth. (Koran)

 From BBC News  report of President Barack Obama's keynote  Middle East speech in Cairo