tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post3235431648840480111..comments2024-03-28T11:52:35.171+00:00Comments on Woolgathering in North East England: Michael Sadgrove's Blog: Having Your Cake and Eating It: Advent thoughtsAquiloniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15098649175728796819noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-23337162641336140782016-11-30T17:39:25.786+00:002016-11-30T17:39:25.786+00:00Great Post, Michael, thank you. My mother used to ...Great Post, Michael, thank you. My mother used to say, "Stop looking to see if someone has more beans on your plate than you have"! She meant, even we three greedy children could see actually counting the orange beans to check if it was fair was silly. But people do check if they think it isn't fair, or if they are hungry. When people know there is a shortage of housing, small wonder if they worry whether their son or daughter will ever get a house if we take people in from elsewhere. If your son or daughter doesn't have a job, the stories of preferential treatment for "immigrants" have real bite. Of course, they may not be true, and people do not distinguish between economic migrants, refugees, and even illegal immigrants, and those are important distinctions. But even I want to know why there are 2m unemployed, and 2m foreign nationals working in this country! I know the answer, in part. Many of the foreign nationals are doctors, and many of the unemployed are redundant steel workers, or 16 year olds with no qualifications. But that isn't obvious to many.<br />But just to cheer you up. I took the bus today. I was the last to arrive, but we all had a long wait as the bus was late. When it came, it stopped opposite me. I know what it's like round here. Queues straggle around, but everyone knows who's first, so I stood back. Everyone gave me a smile of thanks as they passed, all the young people looked a little anxious about putting themselves forward, and then gratefully quickened their step. Except for one handsome young man of about 16, who obviously must have arrived just before me. When it came to his turn, he smiled and beckoned me forward to go before him. Now wasn't that nice? People can be awful, and we can also be wonderful.Athenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08497065436976563532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-40120119920832513122016-11-29T11:37:42.562+00:002016-11-29T11:37:42.562+00:00Do you have any specific advice about how to focus...Do you have any specific advice about how to focus on Advent hope at this time when so many are despairing? I note you have suggest practising thankfulness, something I never find easy when feeling grumpy. Perhaps we also need to be honest about the reasons for grumpiness? Acknowledge the darkness of despair as the place when God's joy may break in?Nancy Wallacehttp://nancysblog-seeker.blogspot.co.uk/noreply@blogger.com