Spirituality
(Non-Fic)
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My personal reflections on Level Five Lockdown as a Grandmother in South Africa. "Sounds interesting!"
Chapter 1
25 March 2020 Virtual World On Sunday we attended virtual church. Well, it wasn’t quite virtual reality – if you compare it to some games where you wear a helmet and wield a sword, but it was not real church. It was watching videos pre-recorded or selected by ...
Chapter 2
26 March, 2020 Exceptional Gifts
On Monday night, our fellowship group had our “last supper.” We all saw how things were going and knew it would not be long before South Africa, too, faced a lockdown. As a group, we watched the president’s address which confirmed it.Althoug...
Chapter 3
27 March, 2020 Lockdown Day, 1 Glimpses of Glory.
Yesterday was hectic. My husband and I decided to take the last opportunity to go out for breakfast and cappuccino while we still could. Portabello restaurant was quiet. In the beginning we were the only people seated there although another couple did come a little ...
Chapter 4
28 March 2020 Lockdown Day 2, Creativity
My cell phone is next to me. I need it to check on the news, (are there any more prohibitions I need to know about) keep contact with my friends, and use my bible app. Today’s bible verse is 2 Cor 4:7-9.But we have this treasure in jars of clay to s...
Chapter 5
29 March 2020 Lockdown Day 3, A Kiss of God
Yesterday morning, as I was in the bath, the sun’s angle changed in such a way that the sunshine streamed through my bathroom window and caressed me. I felt it was a kiss of God and I felt loved and protected. It got me to thinking about God and light.<...
Chapter 6
30 March 2020 Lockdown Day 4, Tents on the Patio
When my husband cleared out the store room, we found four tents. Two tiny ones were from the days when our younger son was still at home and used to go camping with us. We had a caravan and later a motor-home and he had a tent. Then he out grew that tent and got ano...
Chapter 7
31 March 2020 Lockdown Day 5, Living Online
Now that so many people are in lockdown, life is going online. We have online church every Sunday. My daughter is offering online art classes, my granddaughter is doing online ballet lessons, tonight I am trying out my first online conference call when we meet up wi...
Chapter 8
1 April, 2020 Lockdown Day 6, Learning New Things
One positive consequence of this Lockdown is we are able to learn new things. Those of the older generation, like me, are a little technically challenged. Last night I attempted my first Zoom conference which was attended by members of our fellowship group. I had a ...
Chapter 9
2 April 2020 Lockdown Day 7, Attitude of Gratitude
Yesterday I made cards with the grandchildren during “Granny Time.” They were meant to be Easter cards, but mine turned out to be a Thank You card, mainly because I had Thank You stickers in my craft box.<...
Chapter 10
3 April 2020 Lockdown Day 8, Foil Boats
It had been raining all morning and we decided to make foil boats and sail them on puddles for our Granny Science activity.The plan was to investigate different sizes and placement of sails but we never really got that far. Our big puddle had dried up ...
Chapter 11
4 April 2020 Lockdown Day 9, Deep
It has been raining all day and it’s an ideal day to settle down with my computer and write. Since yesterday I have been thinking of the word, “deep.” The first thing that comes to mind when I see this word is a bible verse. &l...
Chapter 12
5 April, 2020 Lockdown Day 10, Sunday again
Sunday has come around again and not just any Sunday. Today is Palm Sunday. The family came over for church again this week, and we seem to be getting into the habit of tea/coffee and something nice to eat after church. It will probably be one of my happy memor...
Chapter 13
6 April Lockdown Day 11, Blue is for Peace
God talks to us in many ways. Today, I’ve mostly heard from Him through scripture. It started this morning with my verse for the day from Psalm 24:1 NIV“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.”<...
Chapter 14
7 April 2020 Lockdown Day 12, Beyond Understanding
Yesterday I noticed something strange on the patio under our gazebo.It looked like somebody had scraped out a bowl of colourless jelly and dumped it on the tiles under the gazebo. It had no smell. Being the curious scientist that I am, I wanted to know...
Chapter 15
8th April, 2020 Day 13 Green Tomatoes and Seeds
A tomato plant grew itself in a bath of soil I used to use for some strawberries that never thrived. When I found the branches drooping, I saved two nearly ripe tomatoes that were lying in the mud and looped up the others. I knew that the two on the ground would be ...
Chapter 16
9 April Lockdown Day 14 In the Middle of History
Tonight at midnight we will be two thirds of the way through our 21 day lockdown. The question on everybody’s lips is, “Will the lockdown be extended?” On the one hand, the economy has taken a nose dive. We’d already been downgraded to Junk S...
Chapter 17
10 April 2020 Lockdown Day 15. Hand Washing
Today is Good Friday.Last night we heard the news of the extended lockdown. Another two weeks! Our six-year-old granddaughter is very meticulous about sanitising her hands. I have hand sanitiser mounted on the wall next to our front door. We got t...
Chapter 18
11 April 2020 Lockdown Day 16, Out of Joint
Today is Easter Saturday – a kind of marking-time day on the Easter weekend. I imagine on that first Easter Saturday, the disciples will have been locked down in their homes, trying to process the events of the previous days. Nothing was the same. Nothing woul...
Chapter 19
12 April, 2020 Lockdown Day 17, Easter Sunday
I will never forget this Easter in the middle of Lockdown 2020. Thanks so much to Rosebank Union Church, Pastor Richard and the other pastors, Michael and the tech guys, the worship team and everybody involved in making these lockdown Easter services so special...
Chapter 20
13 April 2020 Day 18 Birthday Preparations
Tomorrow is my granddaughter’s sixth birthday. Being in lockdown, we can’t have a party, we can’t buy balloons and it’s going to be a very different birthday for her. However, we are all going to make the day as festive as we can.Her t...
Chapter 21
14 April 2020 Lockdown Day 19 Birthday Picnic
Today was the long-awaited birthday. There was much present opening and celebration. The children have been sleeping in the art studio in their tents and a special breakfast was brought to the birthday-girl’s tent.At 10.30 we all had tea and cake. The c...
Chapter 22
15 April 2020 Lockdown Day 20 Good Advice
Obeying God's commands and laws makes us wiser than our enemies, gives us more insight than our teachers and more understanding than our leaders. (Inspired by Psalm 119:97)
Chapter 23
16 April 2020 Lockdown Day 21 Home Schooling
Today was meant to be the last day of lockdown – that was until it was extended by another two weeks!I am helping my grandchildren with their online lessons. I thought I’d be able to write a blog at the same time, but that has been very difficult....
Chapter 24
17 April 2020 Lockdown Day 22 Something Big
The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra have collaborated to bring music to uplift our spirits and as a tribute to our amazing health workers. Each artist recorded his part at home and the techies stitched it together to make this ...
Chapter 25
18 April 2020 Lockdown Day 23 Light as Air
It is Saturday. Despite having been retired for almost three years and the fact that during lockdown days merge into each other, weekends still feel like holidays to me. I felt inspired to make scones for breakfast.Scones are tricky. Sometimes they turn out a...
Chapter 26
19 April 2020 Lockdown Day 25 Little Parables
Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider its ways and be wise! (Prov 6:6 NIV) This morning my husband directed my attention to a sliver of grated cheese that was being moved by a work party of ants. As we watched, the cheese slowly moved towards the sink. To me ...
Chapter 27
20 April 2020 Lockdown Day 26 Free
This morning I opened a forwarded message informing me that Joy Magazine was making their January issue free online. Last week my son in Russia sent me a link to a free YouTube premier of Andrew Lloyd Weber's “Phantom of the Opera.” W...
Chapter 28
21 April 2020 Lockdown Day 27 Remember Me
This morning my normal YouTube daily devotion was nowhere to be found. Instead I read a chapter of Rebecca Barlow-Jones’ book, “Dayvotions for Grandmothers.” She reminisced about her grandmother and other grandmothers and what the children remember...
Chapter 29
22 April Lockdown Day 26
Romans 4:20-21 says of Abraham,Yet he did not waiver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (NIV)...
Chapter 30
23 April 2020 Lockdown Day 28 Protection
Today we had to go shopping. We took our masks and our hand-sanitiser although the two shops we visited both had sanitiser for trolleys and hands. We kept our distance from other people. In general, customers are patient, waiting for one person to look for the veget...
Chapter 31
24 April 2020 Lockdown Day 29 This is the Year
Last night President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a stepped lifting of the hard lockdown from 1 May according to the infection rate and the readiness of health services. South Africa has 3 953 confirmed cases of Covid 19 and the death toll is at 75.2020 will be ...
Chapter 32
25 April 2020 Lockdown Day 30 Valour
This post is part of Saturday Stream of Consciousness. The prompt for today is to use val in a word. I have chosen to look at valour – a good old fashioned word. According to the dictionary, it means great courage in ...
Chapter 33
26 April 2020 Lockdown Day 31 Trees
My son-in-law decided to take down a branch of the acacia tree that was dying and could be a danger if it fell. There was a lot of sawing and even drilling but the final phase was the breaking by pulling the branch using a rope. We a...
Chapter 34
27 April 2020 Lockdown Day 32 Freedom
Today is Freedom Day in South Africa. It commemorates our first democratic elections in 1994. At last all South Africans could vote. One would have thought that after twenty six years we would now have a free society but that is not so. We are not free from crime, w...
Chapter 35
28 April 2020 Lockdown Day 33 Through the Window.
I love looking through my study window and seeing my grandchildren play. Even when it’s raining, they can have such fun. They are being what they are: - Children.In the same way, God loves looking at us being who we are. He didn’t create uniformit...
Chapter 36
29 April 2020 Lockdown Day 34 Greater
"Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world."(1 John 4:4 NIV)My God is greater. He is greater than the president. He is greater than the media. He is greater than the forces of evil in the world. He is greater than anybod...
Chapter 37
30 April 2020 Lockdown Day 35 Work
Tomorrow is Worker’s Day, a public holiday in South Africa and in another 65 countries around the world. It seems ironic that it is also the first day of the lockdown easing to level four from level five. This means that over a million worke...
Chapter 38
1 May 2020 Lockdown Easing
From today South Africa moves from level five to level four lockdown. Pictures flood the news about people out exercising at Emmerentia Dam, Zoo lake, the Promenades in Cape Town and Durban and elsewhere.Today’s devotion was based on Ephesians 6:18. &ld...
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