2012 calendar: November

It's the start of November - All Saints and All Souls. And I'm writing this in Llannerchwen, near Brecon where the grounds are literally carpeted with thousands of leaves, of all colours, shapes and sizes, and all glistening and shiny with rain. All dead - and all resplendent and beautiful, individually and as a whole: a true symbol of eternal life and the Communion of Saints!

This month I've been reading I Timothy. It's filled with all sorts of guidelines and rules for good behaviour, and long lists of all sorts of sinfulness and bad behaviour! Reading such a letter, I feel like someone prospecting for gold, sifting through so much dust and grit in order to find that shining, precious nugget - in this case, a short, hopefully uplifting quote for this month's calendar. And, after quite a bit of panning, I finally found it: near the beginning, cowering in the wake of a short diatribe about murderers, fornicators and so on, was this little chip of gold:

I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service... and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. (1:12 & 14)

May the grace of our Lord overflow for all of us, filled with abundant faith and love!