Trì seachdainean gu lèir!

“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..." Isaiah 30.15

This is the favourite verse of a friend of mine. The consequences which await those who decline should be sufficient to persuade the most die-hard workaholic! So three weeks of unbroken sloth and idleness beckon... Only I don't think that is quite what the prophet had in mind. Repentance, rest, quietness and trust are less invitations to laziness and more exhortations to rely on God rather than on one's own graft and ingenuity.

Still, time away from one's customary routines and responsibilities can be restorative - of both one's energy and one's perspective. Handing the reins to someone else undermines the myth of personal indispensability, while being free to let one's mind wander opens the door to fresh revelations of God and the priorities of his Kingdom. So much for theory. Summer camping in the Scottish highlands and islands can be idyllic or a hideous ordeal depending on two things, mainly: weather and the "mini-hooligans" (meanbh cuileagan or midges). Time will tell...

What I can more confidently predict is that my next post will appear on Sunday 24 July - unless the Lord returns, I get lost/ washed away, or my computer refuses to emerge from the hibernation it so richly deserves. In the meantime, keep faithful, stay safe, be blessed and thank you for your (virtual) company; you are what makes this worthwhile!