Brrrr! It’s a cold day today and the fire in my kitchen has gone out for the first time in about 2 weeks, so it is bitter cold in here. Dilys (my sausage dog) and I have retreated under a blanket on the couch. The smart thing to do would be to light the fire again, but that would mean crawling out from under the blanket and that would make me cold, even if it was only for a short time…..so Dilys and I are going to stay here and write to you.

I am now un-smurfed, not even a pale shade of blue. I’ve finally returned to my usual colour…..but my family are still laughing at me. They still think that they can see a blue tint to me in a strong light.

This week, we have been mostly eating dust…dust sandwiches, a layer of dust over the top of the soup I’ve made. I’ve been drinking crunchy coffee and the cats, much to their disgust, have had a layer of sawdust on their water bowls. The dogs don’t care, they will drink anything….puddle water, ditch water, crunchy water. We’ve taken up the carpet in my room, the floor boards are beautiful underneath and so the old varnish is being taken off and the floor boards sanded. Archie, my big grey cat, is disgruntled. He doesn’t like the noise, he doesn’t like the dust, the noise is keeping him awake (he’s nearly 14 now), so every so often he sticks his head round the bedroom door and yells a full-on scream of a meow at Richie, the man doing the work, and then runs away again. We think what he is saying is very rude and ends on ‘off’ but luckily Richie doesn’t speak cat so he hasn’t been offended.

I’ve just looked at the weather forecast…..

SNOW!!!

Anything that says sleet for everyone else is snow for us. I should have grown out of the excitement of snow but I still haven’t. I love snow, even though it’s hard work with all our animals….making footprints in fresh snow, the way the world goes all quiet and eerie. I think this, if it’s anything, it is just going to be an insignificant smattering of snow, but I can’t wait for the first time each year I see that snowflake on the weather forecast.

Kebra Negast

41. Concerning the blessing of Kings “Hearken thou now to the blessing that shall come upon thee, if thou wilt do the Will of God. Thou shalt be blessed in all thy ways, blessed shalt thou be in the city, blessed shalt thou be in the field, blessed shalt thou be in thy house, blessed shalt thou be outside it, and blessed shall be the fruit of thy belly. And those who were gathered together said, Amen. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy land. Amen. Blessed shall be the fountains of thy waters. Amen. Blessed shall be the fruit that thou hast planted. Amen. Blessed shall be thy cattle-runs and the flocks of thy sheep. Amen. Blessed shall be thy granaries and thy barns. Amen. Blessed shalt thou be in thy coming in. Amen. Blessed shalt thou be in thy going forth. Amen.

“And God shall bring to thee thine enemies who have risen up against thee, and they shall be trodden small beneath thy feet. Amen. And God shall send His blessing on thy houses and on everything to which thou hast put thine hand. Amen. And God shall multiply for thee good things, namely, children of thy body, produce of thy land, and births among thy flocks and herds. Amen. And in the land which He swore [to give to] thy fathers, He will give thee according to the days of heaven. Amen. And God shall open for thee the storehouse of the blessing of the heavens, and He shall give thee blessed rain, and shall bless the fruit of thy labour. Amen. Thou shalt lend unto many peoples, but thou shalt not borrow. Amen. Thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee. Amen. And God shall set thee at the head and not at the tail, and thou shalt be at the top and not at the bottom. Amen. And thou shalt gather together of every blessing of the land for thy flocks and herds, and thou shalt take the spoil of the nations for thine army, and they shall bow down to thee to the face of the earth, to thy sovereignty, because of the greatness of thy glory. Thine honour shall rise up like the cedar, and like the Morning Star, the brilliance of thy glory shall be before all the nations of the earth, and before every tribe of thy people ISRAEL.

“For God shall be with thee in all thy ways, and He will perform thy will in everything that thou determinest. And thou shalt inherit the countries of thine enemy, and the greatness of thy people shall be praised because of the greatness of thine awesomeness, and because of the multitude of thy soldiers. And all those who do not perform the Will of God will fear thee because thou dost do His Will, and dost serve Him, and therefore He will give thee great majesty in the sight of those who see thee. Their hearts shall tremble before the bridle of thy horses, and the quiver of thy bow, and the glitter of thy shield, and they shall bow down to the face of the earth, for their hearts shall be terrified at the sight of thy majesty. And when those who are in the mountains see thee afar off they shall come down to the plain, and those who are on the seas and in the deep waters shall come forth, so that the Lord may bring them into thy hand, because they have transgressed the command of God. And thou, when thou doest His Will, shalt receive from Him everything for which thou hast asked; for if thou lovest Him He will love thee, and if thou keepest His commandment He will grant thee the petition of thy heart, and everything that thou seekest thou shalt receive from Him. For He is the Good One to the good, and the Compassionate to the compassionate, and He doeth the will of those who fear Him, and He giveth a reward to those who wait patiently for Him. Be patient in respect of wrath, and at the end He will make thee to rejoice; love righteousness and He will make life to blossom for thee. Be a good man to the good, and a reprover of sinners. And put aside the wickedness of the evil man by rebuking and correcting him, and condemn and disgrace the evil man who doeth violence to his neighbour in the court of law. And do justice to the poor man and to the orphans, and release them from the hand of him that doeth them wrong. And deliver him that is forsaken and the man who is in misery, and release him from the hand of him that causeth him to suffer. Judge not with partiality, and have no respect of persons, but judge righteously. When thou undertakest to judge, love not gifts (i.e., bribes) and accept not persons. And admonish thy governors (or, judges) that they be free from the taking of gifts, and that they accept not the persons of their friends, or of their enemies, or of rich or poor, in giving judgment; and they shall surely judge their neighbours in righteousness, and with a just judgment.

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Reasoning

Command

2 Samuel 5 v3, 12
3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel.
12 And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over
Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.

Will

Psalm 101 v1-8
1 I will sing of mercy and judgement: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.
2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
4 A froward heart shall depart from me; I will not know a wicked person.
5 Whoso privily slandereth has neighbour, he will I cut off: him that
hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.
7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.
8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

Desire

Jeremiah 23 v5-6
5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth.
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name, Emperor Haile Selassie I, whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Wish

Isaiah 12 v4, 6
4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, Emperor Haile Selassie I, call upon his name, Emperor Haile Selassie I, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name, Emperor
Haile Selassie I, is exalted.6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel, Emperor Haile Selassie I, in the midst of thee.

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Proverbs 8

You had the first half of Proverbs 8 last week, now the second half this week. We are starting from verse 22 this time. Proverbs 8 was written by King Solomon, who was known in his early reign for being wise. In Proverbs 8, verse 22 onwards, he talks about wisdom being as old as creation, there from the beginning of the world. He also advises:

Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. ³³ Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not disregard it.

Wisdom is described elsewhere in the bible (proverbs 2) as a ‘gift from a generous God’ and with that gift ‘you will discover all that is just, proper, and fair, and be empowered to make the right decisions
as you walk into your destiny’.

That is a good gift in life….to be able to make good choices as you aim towards a better future! …..

²² “The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,^[c][d]
    before his deeds of old;
²³ I was formed long ages ago,
    at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
²⁴ When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
    when there were no springs overflowing with water;
²⁵ before the mountains were settled in place,
    before the hills, I was given birth,
²⁶ before he made the world or its fields
    or any of the dust of the earth.
²⁷ I was there when he set the heavens in place,
    when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
²⁸ when he established the clouds above
    and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
²⁹ when he gave the sea its boundary
    so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
³⁰     Then I was constantly^[e] at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
    rejoicing always in his presence,
³¹ rejoicing in his whole world
    and delighting in mankind.

³² “Now then, my children, listen to me;
blessed are those who keep my ways.
³³ Listen to my instruction and be wise;
do not disregard it.
³⁴ Blessed are those who listen to me,
watching daily at my doors,
waiting at my doorway.
³⁵ For those who find me find life
and receive favor from the Lord.
³⁶ But those who fail to find me harm themselves;
all who hate me love death.”

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The Wise Words of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I

A nation can achieve a healthy and full growth, provided balanced measures
are taken in all fields of activity. Guided by this principle and in accordance
with the resources that We have at Our disposal, We for Our part have and
shall continue to work for the full realization of the said objective.

Progress and work have no boundaries. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone of
us to contribute in full measure his share to this noble aim. We should always
bear in mind that education and modern civilization are the fruits of hard
labour.

(From a speech December 11th 1966)

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Prayer

This is an old prayer, written by St Patrick in the 4th Century, but I thought the words were beautiful…..

Lord, be with us this day,
Within us to purify us;
Above us to draw us up;
Beneath us to sustain us;
Before us to lead us;
Behind us to restrain us;
Around us to protect us.

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Oh dear! I’ve just looked out the door and seen this…

This is Gwen, my middle daughter’s dog…who would make a champion bog-snorkeller, I think. My daughter took her for a walk before her online lesson and Gwen rolled in something that smelled horrific and then went swimming down a disgusting ditch/stream. So, my daughter brought her back, only just in time for her lesson, and there was a lot of chore-negotiating and my son has marched Gwen off for about 10 rinses under the shower using industrial strength shampoo. I assume I’m going to discover my daughter doing my son’s chores later.

I opened a lovely parcel from one of my best friends this morning……

….a new mug (photo starring Chloe AKA Scabby Tabby, eating her biscuits). My friend lives too far away from me, across county and COVID divides, it’s ages since we’ve met up and it seems like it’s going to continue like that. The rules are so confusing that it seems easier and safer to just stay in our little bubble.

I did adventure out earlier this week….I took my son and one of my ‘spare teenagers’ out Christmas shopping, at a weird hour when there was almost no one around. It was very funny…they are also friends with a ‘girl’, and they had to buy her a present, I think first time they have ever had to buy a none-sister-y sort of girl a present. They hadn’t got a clue!! They kept on thinking of all sorts of things that they might want, until they decided to buy her false eyelashes (?!). I’m not sure she even wears false eyelashes, but they certainly weren’t buying them on their own…this was a group outing, with a need for full-on moral support from me. She’s going to look like she’s been attacked by hairy caterpillars…they wouldn’t be steered towards the subtle ones (I’ve met the girl in question many times and she’s never struck me as a huge false eyelash sort of a girl…but at least it meant that we left the shopping centre, with a gift, before midnight!)….and, just in case, they bought her chocolate. I think they are wise. I think that will make it all okay.

It’s now the start of advent and anyone who was in the Rastafari group last year will remember that this is when I start getting glittery. Every year I start increasing my ‘Christmas-i-ness’ (not a word, I know…but it explains what I need it to) each week until just before Christmas, when it’s full- on glitter, antlers and lights….so it starts this week! I’ve warned you! 😊

Blessings,

Elizabeth