Hope For Today

Dear Friends, At this time of year, many people's thoughts turn to love and Valentine's Day. For some, it's a day to look forward to as they look for ways to express love to someone they care about and as they wait to receive expressions of love in return. For others, it can be a painful reminder of love lost or feeling that they have no-one who loves them as they desire to be loved. Each one of us longs to be loved and accepted. We were made for relationships. We can experience many forms of love, whether it's the love of parents for a child (and vice versa), love between siblings, love of a good friend, love between girlfriend and boyfriend, or husband and wife etc. As much as we can receive and give love within these relationships, no one person was ever meant to meet all our needs. One person cannot totally satisfy our need to be loved and accepted. If we look for that person to do so, they will end up frustrated that they are not able to be all that we nee...

Dear Friends, When I was 8 years old we moved from the town of St. Leonards to the village of Buxted.  One of my favourite memories was when our family would walk through Buxted Park.  It was a lovely green area and home to many deer.  It was a great place to go hunting for chestnuts on an Autumn Saturday afternoon. On the walk we would pass a small brick building.  My Dad told us it was called a pillbox.  My sister, Trina, and I had never seen one before but there are several throughout England and they were built during World War Two as a form of defence against the enemy. Trina and I would love to get our Dad to help us up on to the top of it, so we could then have a better view of our surroundings and be high up.  All children seem to have a fascination with being 'King of the Castle'. The problem came when it was time to get down!  It was too high for us to jump.  Once again we needed help from our Dad. Dad would say "Jum...