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Last night we settled down to watch a film.  THe kids are away at Nanny’s on their weekend break and we’re having some time together watching a movie on the big screen.  For once it’s going to be somethign different to CBeebies.

At Christmas my wife bought me “Click”.  Neither of us had heard of it or seen anything about it but it had Adam Sandler in it and he’s usualy very funny. Anyway without spoiling it for you the story is based around this young man whose in his early 30’s and is working all the hours he has so that he can make partner and his kids can have a better life and as the story unfolds we get to see what’s happening around him that he’s missing.

As I sat there and laughed my way through it made me wonder if my life was just a little like that.  Am I caught into the work harder for a better life for my kids trap?  Am I missing out on the important things while I chase a better future? 

In ten years time am I going to be some knackered fat guy whose marriage and family have suffered as a result?

Sometimes, just sometimes, there’s some real wisdom written in the music we listen to.  Often my favorite tune is associated with a time or place.  Sometimes it is just that it has a really cool base line or catchy riff.  Occassionally it’s the song of the year and everyone knows why.  But if you really really listen to it sometimes buried in the lyrics there’s some real gems of wisdom that give you a kick in the backside.

Take Israel Kamakawiwo’s version of “Somewhere over the rainbow”. On the surface of it it’s a really cool song.  My wife and I love it and when it’s on we knotched the volume up a little.  When I’m on my own I knotch it up a lot!  Yes I know very sad.  But the otherday when it was cranking out I suddenly found myself listening to the words and this line caught me “and I think to myslef, what a wonderful world”.

Just take five minutes.  Stop and look around. What a wonderful world we live in.  In the middle of all the rubbish that is going on if you just stop.   Put your engine into neutral for a minute and look around.  What a wonderful world we live in.  The bible says “All creation tell of his glory” and when we look past the horrors of this world, past the evil that is happening around us every day, the murders, child kidnappings, arson attacks, robberies we can see beautiful wonderful things in this world that God has created.

It’s esy to have our vision blurred. Information is screaming at us all the time and unfortunately most of what we’re told in the news is bad.  These days it’s quite rare to see good news on the front page and so our view of this world can often be littered with all the bad that is happening.

But just for 5 minutes, look up, take your eyes of the streets covered in litter, and take a long hard look at this world that God has created and as the song says, for those 5 minutes your “troubles will melt like lemon drops”

Where has the last month gone?  Yes I know I’ve been rubbish at keeping this up to date but then the last month has been particularly busy and clients have been particularly demanding.

On top of that Violet is now crawling and into everything and she’s also saying “da da”, well ok something that sounds like “da da”.  I remember the first time Rose said Dad.  It nearly cost us a days pay as I just stood in awe.  My wife had to remind me that I had to go to work.

Anyway, I’ve just spent my bank holiday putting up Rose’s climbimg frame.  I promised that I would do it this weekend and I braved the elements suffered my aching back and managed to get it finished, and all bar one 10 minute spot on Sunday afternoon it’s tipped it down ever since and she’s not been able to play on it.  At least for those 10 minutes it was the most fun she’d ever had.  So much so that the first thing she said to me on Monday morning was “I love my new slide”.  The agony of my aching back just melted away!