The Lifestyle Movement (https://www.lifestylemovement.org.uk) – of which I am a committee member – as our interesting website shows I hope was an early (1972) mover in this most important area of our wonderful and yet frail human life.

There are now so many other challenging, important and helpful groups

to help us move from an ‘all is doom ‘ or ‘a fish rots from the head down’ as a recent article in The Quaker magasine – The Friend – puts it (https://thefriend.org/article/rome-burns-tony-dsouzas-thought-for-the-week)

A short Google will show how many and a search from our website or others, such as the RSPB (https://www.rspb.org.) will underline

Reason for Hope – yes if we all continue to value our (God given.inspired) shared humanity.

I’m trying to learn how to ‘slow down’ (as well as naturally doing so

at 80) by taking a longish walk -with my stick these days- in the peaceful and enjoyable local woods, fields and town.

These two recent short videos were from my mobile phone

I am enjoying dipping into the longest Psalm in the Bible (119) and was amazed and rather excited to learn that in many monastic communities it is often a daily part of their worship (https://christdesert.org/prayer/opus-dei/approach-to-the-psalms)

The entrancing words of verse 18 are echoed in this musical prayer of longing to help us see God/The Divine/Reality in everything

Richard Rohr subtitles his wonderfully ‘heart opening’ book The Universal Christ with the words ‘seeing Christ in all things’. The first chapter recounts the joy of a lady who experienced just that on a Tube train in London.

Carvosso Surname Definition:

From Carvowsa in Ludgvan, or Carvis in Roche; from car-vose, a rock or castle intrenched by a ditch; or, as Pryce renders it, “the intrenched castle.”

My recent researches into our name led me to Australia where another John Carvosso lives in Adelaide. So we have been chatting on Zoom regularly and I have just started reading John’s book about a mutual forebear called Samuel. Samuel emigrated , like many other Cornish Carvossos, to Australia in the 19th Century while his brother , Jabez, migrated from Cornwall to East London.

So my Dad (Arthur) from Upton Park was a direct descendant of Jabez.

All this and more has been researched in detail in John A Carvosso’s book and there are enticing (for me at least) details on his website (https://johnacarvosso.com)

That website has a 2nd , and equally interesting , strand to it – about John’s own spiritual journey.

So a must visit/read for two very good reasons.

This, my first and only published work began from an 80th birthday, present from our son Tim. Entirled ‘MLIB ‘ and web-based – there was a weekly question to be answered for eack of the 52 weeks from 5 June 2025 to 5th June 2026.

At the end of the year Ruth and I sat down for an hour or so to edit the manuscript & photos. Then the gift was for a published copy of these 52 questions.

I added a final short paragraph (What”s it all about) and the book was published. MLIB also supplied the pdf shown above.

I greatly enjoyed the year spent answering the questions and from them took 2 especial life lessons.

(1 )Life has centred around two values – joy and curiosity.

(2) My spiritual journey has been in 3 interlocking circles of growth

a) Evangelical and Charismatic

b) Liturgical and Pastoral

c) Mystical and Inward

If anyone who reads this blog would like a copy of the pdf they are welcome to download it but I would be grateful for a donation to the work of OPOD , which a friend runs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We have recently helped Mkangya to build a small community library and so any further donations are for this project.(www.opodasbl.org)

Teach me, Beauty,Wisdom & Compassion

In all things thee to see

And what I do in anything

to do it as for Thee

How well the two go together. Beauty seems a window lnto the Divine.

My walk this morning took me talong the brow of one of the smallish hills above Torrington & along the back of the local allotments.

https://revjcc.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/img_7550-1.mov

An intriguing verse from St Paul (1 Corinthians 13:12) reminds us that ‘Now we see through a glass darkly ‘ and ‘Now I know in part’ – reminding us of our often limited seeing and knowing.

A lovely, though rather controversial ,aphorism tells us that ‘To understand all is to forgive all’ So I am glad that God’s knowledge of us is characterised as ‘perfect’ in Psalm 139,

I find this immensely reassuring as it’s so easy to be quick to judge others. I think we had a reading from Advices and Queries about this last month.

The conclusion of St. Paul’s thought process helps us to look forward to ‘Then’- the Reality. –

when we shall know fully as we are known and see face to face

The family photo taken at the ‘wake’ in the Commodore (Instow) after my mother’s funeral

and now 3 others in the photo have also died and know this Reality for themselves.

I am definitely slowing down – having reached 80 and starting walking with a stick – and benefitting from 

seeing more on my daily walks.

This lovely bush, with delicate spiders webs on top and view over our local Torrington countryside, really fascinated me with it’s

wonderful colour. delicate bud-type leaves +.

How much for us to see and enjoy in our lovely though fragile world.I love some words from St. Paul about this way of seeing and have used the Biblical reference in my email address <ph.4v4to8:gmail.com)

‘And now, my friends, all that is true,all that is noble,all that is just and pure, all that is lovable and gracious, whatever is excellent and admirable – fill all your thoughts with these things (Philippians 4 verse 8)