People networks

Donna and I live in St Neots, a lovely town in Cambridgeshire. The photo shows part of the river front right in the heart of the town.

The River Great Ouse in St Neots

I walked down there this afternoon and took the photo from the town's main bridge before visiting Caffè Nero for a chat with some friends.

We sat outside this afternoon, it was warm but not hot, a grey day with no wind. The conversation covered all kinds of topics as it usually does.

I think many people today lack this kind of socialising. At work there are always people to talk to, but for those out of work or retired it can be a lonely business being at home. We all need people around us, even if we feel comfortable alone.

People create networks quite without thinking about it. The most basic units are family and tribe, but in the modern world there are many others. The workplace, the cafe, the pub, mothers with young children, groups of teenagers, people with hobbies or interests in common. I'm sure you could easily extend the list.

Any one person may belong to several of these groups and in this way they are all interconnected to make a human society. What a rich tapestry we form!

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

A typical day

I was able to help Paul with a lift to Moggerhanger to return a borrowed disk cutter. Before heading off to do that we chatted with one of his friends over a coffee. There's a good chance another of his friends will do a Bible study with us soon. That's something to pray about and needs a little thought over the best way to approach it.

Seen on the walk back home with Sean

Life seems to be full of opportunities to share the good news about Jesus.

Later in the morning I got down to some serious weeding in the garden and cut the grass. I'm sure there's a lesson here. There is so much life in the garden, organic abundance and proliferation everywhere; it's just the way the church should be too. Yet all too often, unlike the plants and insects, the birds hopping on the grass and singing in the trees, church seems to be lacking in vitality.

At Caffe Nero I sat and chatted with the usual crew. I learned that one of the group plans to leave St Neots and will probably head to London where he will become homeless. This is a tragedy. There should be some way we could help him, but it seems there really isn't right now. I don't know what to do about this.

Sean and I talked about it when we met this evening. We had walked back to the house from town together, I took the photo of leaves in the sunshine on the way.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)