Rainy Birthday

Rain on and off all day, lots of it. Clare was working in the morning so to amuse myself I went and visited Curry's superstore to see if they had any new kit or bargains I didn't know about. Nothing interesting, but I did chat to one of the guys I know there, who used to work at store in town, but left before it closed to work nearer home with free parking. Although a camera expert he earns little more than the minimum wage after a decade in this kind of job. Retail is a tough place to be nowadays.

I collected Clare from school and we drove up to Caerphilly mountain for a walk. We stopped at the now opened stylishly re-built snack bar in the car park at the top, so that could get something to eat, as Clare had lunched in school with the children. I had a huge bacon and egg 'sub' (a giant white bread roll, as used in the Subway fast food chain), followed by a Magnum ice cream. It was just warm enough to sit outside, but by the time we'd finished, the rain started to lash down on us heavily, so we gave up thoughts of a walk and went back home for the afternoon.

Owain came to join us for a birthday supper, bearing a bottle of our family favourite Bourgogne Pinot Noir. I wanted to cook something special, rather than be waited upon, and turned out something everyone enjoyed. Rachel sent me some of her latest batch of her Arizona hand made chocolates. There was a DVD of Bob Marley from Kath, Anto and Rhiannon, plus a CD of 'Arab Spring' popular protest music to invigorate the ears. Clare gave me a year's subscription to the National Trust, and this will make sure we get out and about on visits we've been meaning to do but don't always get around to.

Three years since I reached retirement age, rich and varied years, taking photos, blogging, travelling and really enjoying visiting so many church communities on locum duty. I feel more well and healthy now than I did then. In some ways I'm still working hard, and not infrequently get told off for this by family and friends. But, I'm not working because I need money to survive. I work at a pace I can cope with, only taking as much responsibility as I can enjoy, doing the things I value most. 

A life in ministry should be one dedicated to Him 'whose service is perfect freedom'. I can say without regret that far too much of a working life in the public ministry of the church felt more like compulsion than liberty. Retirement has finally redressed the imbalance. It could never be a question of sitting about all the time doing nothing. It's nice to have that as an option to enjoy now and then, to savour the joy of living in freedom. I recall the story told of Jamaican freed slaves, considered lazy and unambitious by their former owners because they'd only work as much as they needed to subsist on, and then sit around in the shade idling away their days. When challenged, the response was; now at last we can make time to do the one thing we were never free to do before - nothing.