DEXY’S (MIS) ADVENTURES – Chapter 12 – Digging for ??? 

So, after an eventful visit to the ‘guild’ with my dad.  It’s eventful cause there is so much going on there.  My dad is busy handing out treats for people to give them to me, for which I am very grateful, but I can also hear a rustle a mile away.   Once they have started I home in on that sound, and they are getting ready to give me a treat, but they are also trying to do it on the sly so that my dad doesn’t catch them giving me too many and get them into trouble…..so I am watching too….just to try and help them, and when I think dad isn’t looking I will paw at their leg to let them know the coast is clear.  It’s all very cloak and dagger stuff.  But……rewarding……. 

Then, if was off on my holidays as they were away…yes…again…. but I love going to see Jim and Jackie, they look after me so well and there are lots of pals to play with.  This time, when out on my walks I became a bit obsessed with digging a hole beside a log.   

Jackie would often say to me, ‘are you trying to get to Australia to see your mum and dad?’  To be fair I have no idea what Australia is, but I would be very surprised if it was under this log!!   

I was just digging for the roots…there is something quite tasty about freshly dug roots.  What a treat!!!  Mum and dad made it safely back from holiday, which was all good, and I am back at home with the ‘cat.’  I was ‘treated’ very well on both outings.    

The moral of this tail is……….. Sometimes, the good things in life come easy, and that is great, treats just keep coming, sometimes from the most unexpected places.  You can’t beat a bit of dropped ham or cheese….. other times…. well…. you need to be doing a bit of digging to get there.  Sometimes, even in all the mud and dirt some good stuff can be found.  In these times, you can’t give up, you just gotta keep digging.     

How to find hope in the dark days

As you know we were away on holiday during much of February and March to a long-anticipated trip to Australia.  It was really a most unbelievable experience, especially in terms of the wildlife that we saw.  There is something quite magical about seeing kangaroos and koalas in the wild and not forgetting a life affirming visit to watch baby loggerhead turtles make their way to shore.  It truly was the trip of a lifetime, and the memories will stay with me for a very long time.  

We were about 12 days into our holiday when we heard the news filter through of the outbreak in hostilities in the middle east.  A flurry of messages of concern from family and friends followed wondering about our journey home, as that was supposed to be through Dubai.  Thankfully we were well looked after by our travel company, and we were rerouted for our journey home.  

We did think about all those who were affected in so many ways, not only by the terrible war, in which so many innocent people were caught up with the fear of bombs and drones falling on their homes, but who were caught up in the travel chaos that has followed with many being stuck for days and weeks, unsure of how they are getting home, and unsure of who is paying.        

We watch all this from afar on our TV screens and we find ourselves asking, ‘where does the world go from here.’ I don’t pretend to have an answer for this, but we must never lose hope of a better day.   

If we lose hope, then darkness has truly won.  But if we hope for better days.  If we hope for peace.  If we hope for compassion and compromise. If we have hope, then darkness has not won. 

This newsletter will come out in amongst Easter, a true time of hope and new beginnings.  Not without its betrayal, pain, and lose and suffering.  But through all this there was hope.  Hope that love would win.   

A sacrifice paid……..a life laid down…….a promise of new life…….. 

I do not believe that our prayers will be in vain.  I do hope for a brighter tomorrow, in which peace will reign. 

This will be my Easter Prayer 

Your Friend and Minister 

Alan