an unpredictable mix

Christmas is a bit of a mix. Highs and lows.

There's a lot of joy. But that simply sharpens up the sense of grief which many know.

I suppose I swing between the two.

This last full week of the term I'm in at the local secondary school each day, first thing.

Different year groups each time. Today it was the 5th and 6th year groups.

It's not always easy to know what to say. Where to pitch it. How far to push it.

They come from all sorts of backgrounds. And for some of them Christmas is nothing beyond a welcome relief from school. Period.

But whether there's even a semblance of Christian conviction or not, the fact of the matter is simply this - that these are the Christmas holidays. So I don't have a problem in touching on aspects of what went on and earthing the challenge of that in modern day life.

That's what I try to do, at any rate.

And I try and keep it festive, too. Since it's that time of year and the end of the term is close.

There was more in the way of festive cheer as well, I suppose, in the meeting I had through the bulk of the morning with the leaders of the Reception Area here.

There are plans to be made and questions we have to address. So we try and get together on a fairly regular basis, to toss these matters around. And to enjoy the break that a coffee away from the place affords.

And a good old laugh as well, of course - they're a wonderful group!

But there's sorrow as well these days.

There's a lady here who's battled with cancer for probably 13 years. She finally passed away on Sunday afternoon. It's a hard and painful time for her family.

The more so because this lady's mother herself had died just a couple of weeks ago. On the birthday of one of her daughters.

So a fair bit of time has been spent today in that connection too. The lady who died was amazing. The way she'd handled her illness and the care that she'd shown for her family. Their pride must have burst their hearts, even if the pain of their grief had not.

I was round to see them, briefly, at night.

Before going on to meet with the others for our regular(-ish) time of getting together to learn from the Bible. We had someone new along tonight which was great.

But we didn't get all that far. In fact, we didn't get any real distance at all in terms of the passage we'd planned to start on. We touched on a host of other bits in the Bible and had a look at some of them.

That's the way these times of study sometimes go. It's more like the way that Jesus taught his disciples, I think. Just gathered around the table and going with the flow of the questions that lay on their hearts.

And there were certainly questions that needed aired tonight!

Like the six of us gathered there tonight, the day's been a bit of a mixture. Which is pretty true to life. The ups and the downs, the joys and the griefs.

An unpredictable mix.

Christmas, I suppose.