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Facebook posts from February 2010

By Anita Mathias

Roy and I scoured the garden and paddock today for the first intimations of spring. And found them. Yay! Bright yellow winter aconite blooming in the paddock; delicate snowdrops in our garden; daffodil shoots on the edges of the frozen pond. Spring is not far behind, though that seems hard to believe when one wakes to a snowy and frozen garden.



At 1.44 a.m. on Wed: a frenzied quacking; Daisy, our pet duck whom we had raised from a fuzzy yellow chirping ball was mauled by a fox. We had the vet put her down. Ducks are intensely social, & her sister, Buttercup would be depressed, so we have donated her to the University’s duck pond. So if you see a fat, feisty, very friendly white Aylesbury duck there, please give her an extra piece of bread for our sake.

04 February at 21:51

Anita Mathias 

We have a duck shed, of course, but had our daughter’s friend sleep-over that evening, and our own Christian history course, and so forget our usual routine of “duck the ducks” in the shed at dusk. I adore ducks and geese, and might get more, but am afraid of the consequences of forgetting to put them away at dusk.

 As I walked in our paddock: a quacking. The migratory wild ducks who nest at our large pond every spring (well, for the four years we’ve lived here) flew up with an indignant flapping of wings. Guess they don’t like Jake, our feisty border collie!! “He takes away and gives.” I am mourning for my ducks, who were friendly & full of quirks and personality, but I guess I am going to get to watch ducklings again.

05 February

 Irene, crooning to me, “Mummy, you’re a mummy, and you’ll always be a mummy, but I am an Irene, and one day I will be a mummy.” Me, “Well, I’m not just a mummy.” She, soothingly, “I know. You are a writer, a Mummy, and a chatterbox.”

06 February 

Country walk today in Marsh Baldon. Lovely Feb views, but I did not enjoy the stiles that required high degrees of athleticism; thick deep mud; & the over-friendly horses who nuzzled us, hoping for apples & snorted threateningly at our dog. I only like horses at a distance & am a little scared of them–so I guess I will never be a real British country girl, though I’ve lived in the country for 4 years now, & love it.

06 February

Reading lovely books. Mary Oliver & Jane Kenyon, American poets. R.T. Kendall, “The Anointing, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” A theological book, it looks at God’s supernatural enabling. To continue doing what you once did well, or to step out of one’s gifts out of ambition is to be yesterday’s man. Operating within your call makes you today’s man; the spiritually sensitive person, in training, is tomorrow’s wo/man.

08 February

An interview with Young, author of the self-published best-seller “The Shack,” which I own, but have not read. “I really do believe that God is love, one of deep affection and grace and forgiveness and inspiration.” A God of deep affection. Somehow that speaks to me more than a God of love, which is a word we have heard over-used since our childhoods, and which has therefore has lost some of its edginess and meaning.

10 February

Roy’s birthday. Zoe spoke to the 8-10 year olds for 20 minutes on 1 Corinthians 13 (Love)!! Wonderful family lunch at Chiang Mai Kitchen, good shrimp & duck & beef & seafood. Absent-minded Roy & I shop for Xmas gifts on Christmas Eve (since shops close on the 25th!). For birthdays, we shop on the day itself! Shame on us! Luckily, there was a fab sale at Edinburgh Woollen Mills. Zoe bought 4 sweaters to Roy’s one!!



The Clothes Pin by Jane Kenyon “How much better it is/ to carry wood to the fire/than to moan about your life./How much better/to throw the garbage/onto the compost, or to pin the clean/sheet on the line,/With a gray-brown wooden clothes pin.”



Enjoying a lovely, social half-term break: a delicious dinner with the Wraiths yesterday; a Writers in Oxford drinks party tomorrow, and dinner with our friend Joan on Friday. And of course, French conversation and Christian history classes. Irene is away for the week, at a house-party. She was so excited!!



 Zoe and Roy came back from Mark Marx’s Healing on the Streets seminar full of enthusiasm. Both received a measure of minor physical healing!



 Planning this weekend’s adventures. Last weekend, we walked on Kiln Lane, Garsington, and looked up the hill at our village, pretty as a Constable painting. I tried to jog; Irene biked, R & Z walked. It suddenly hailed, and I was relieved to call it a day under the guise of concern for my children’s health! I was prematurely exhausted! Dinner at Stanton St. John with Joan. A lovely village, stone walls & stone houses

26 February 



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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford # Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford #walking #tranquility #naturephotography #nature
So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And h So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And here we are at one of the world’s most famous and easily recognisable sites.
#stonehenge #travel #england #prehistoric England #family #druids
And I’ve blogged https://anitamathias.com/2020/09/13/on-not-wasting-a-desert-experience/
So, after Paul the Apostle's lightning bolt encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went into the desert, he tells us...
And there, he received revelation, visions, and had divine encounters. The same Judean desert, where Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his active ministry. Where Moses encountered God. Where David turned from a shepherd to a leader and a King, and more, a man after God’s own heart.  Where Elijah in the throes of a nervous breakdown hears God in a gentle whisper. 
England, where I live, like most of the world is going through a desert experience of continuing partial lockdowns. Covid-19 spreads through human contact and social life, and so we must refrain from those great pleasures. We are invited to the desert, a harsh place where pruning can occur, and spiritual fruitfulness.
A plague like this has not been known for a hundred years... John Piper, after his cancer diagnosis, exhorted people, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”—since this was the experience God permitted you to have, and He can bring gold from it. Pandemics and plagues are permitted (though not willed or desired) by a Sovereign God, and he can bring life-change out of them. 
Let us not waste this unwanted, unchosen pandemic, this opportunity for silence, solitude and reflection. Let’s not squander on endless Zoom calls—or on the internet, which, if not used wisely, will only raise anxiety levels. Let’s instead accept the invitation to increased silence and reflection
Let's use the extra free time that many of us have long coveted and which has now been given us by Covid-19 restrictions to seek the face of God. To seek revelation. To pray. 
And to work on those projects of our hearts which have been smothered by noise, busyness, and the tumult of people and parties. To nurture the fragile dreams still alive in our hearts. The long-deferred duty or vocation
So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I have totally sunk into the rhythm of it, and have got quiet, very quiet, the quietest spell of time I have had as an adult.
I like it. I will find going back to the sometimes frenetic merry-go-round of my old life rather hard. Well, I doubt I will go back to it. I will prune some activities, and generally live more intentionally and mindfully.
I have started blocking internet of my phone and laptop for longer periods of time, and that has brought a lot of internal quiet and peace.
Some of the things I have enjoyed during lockdown have been my daily long walks, and gardening. Well, and reading and working on a longer piece of work.
Here are some images from my walks.
And if you missed it, a blog about maintaining peace in the middle of the storm of a global pandemic
https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/  #walking #contemplating #beauty #oxford #pandemic
A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine. A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine.  We can maintain a mind of life and peace during this period of lockdown by being mindful of our minds, and regulating them through meditation; being mindful of our bodies and keeping them happy by exercise and yoga; and being mindful of our emotions in this uncertain time, and trusting God who remains in charge. A new blog on maintaining a mind of life and peace during lockdown https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/
In the days when one could still travel, i.e. Janu In the days when one could still travel, i.e. January 2020, which seems like another life, all four of us spent 10 days in Malta. I unplugged, and logged off social media, so here are some belated iphone photos of a day in Valetta.
Today, of course, there’s a lockdown, and the country’s leader is in intensive care.
When the world is too much with us, and the news stresses us, moving one’s body, as in yoga or walking, calms the mind. I am doing some Yoga with Adriene, and again seeing the similarities between the practice of Yoga and the practice of following Christ.
https://anitamathias.com/2020/04/06/on-yoga-and-following-jesus/
#valleta #valletamalta #travel #travelgram #uncagedbird
Images from some recent walks in Oxford. I am copi Images from some recent walks in Oxford.
I am coping with lockdown by really, really enjoying my daily 4 mile walk. By savouring the peace of wild things. By trusting that God will bring good out of this. With a bit of yoga, and weights. And by working a fair amount in my garden. And reading.
How are you doing?
#oxford #oxfordinlockdown #lockdown #walk #lockdownwalks #peace #beauty #happiness #joy #thepeaceofwildthings
Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social d Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social distancing. The first two are my own garden.  And I’ve https://anitamathias.com/2020/03/28/silver-and-gold-linings-in-the-storm-clouds-of-coronavirus/ #corona #socialdistancing #silverlinings #silence #solitude #peace
Trust: A Message of Christmas He came to earth in Trust: A Message of Christmas  He came to earth in a  splash of energy
And gentleness and humility.
That homeless baby in the barn
Would be the lynchpin on which history would ever after turn
Who would have thought it?
But perhaps those attuned to God’s way of surprises would not be surprised.
He was already at the centre of all things, connecting all things. * * *
Augustus Caesar issued a decree which brought him to Bethlehem,
The oppressions of colonialism and conquest brought the Messiah exactly where he was meant to be, the place prophesied eight hundred years before his birth by the Prophet Micah.
And he was already redeeming all things. The shame of unwed motherhood; the powerlessness of poverty.
He was born among animals in a barn, animals enjoying the sweetness of life, animals he created, animals precious to him.
For he created all things, and in him all things hold together
Including stars in the sky, of which a new one heralded his birth
Drawing astronomers to him.
And drawing him to the attention of an angry King
As angelic song drew shepherds to him.
An Emperor, a King, scholars, shepherds, angels, animals, stars, an unwed mother
All things in heaven and earth connected
By a homeless baby
The still point on which the world still turns. The powerful centre. The only true power.
The One who makes connections. * * *
And there is no end to the wisdom, the crystal glints of the Message that birth brings.
To me, today, it says, “Fear not, trust me, I will make a way.” The baby lay gentle in the barn
And God arranges for new stars, angelic song, wise visitors with needed finances for his sustenance in the swiftly-coming exile, shepherds to underline the anointing and reassure his parents. “Trust me in your dilemmas,” the baby still says, “I will make a way. I will show it to you.” Happy Christmas everyone.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/24/trust-a-message-of-christmas/ #christmas #gemalderieberlin #trust #godwillmakeaway
Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Gratitude journal, habit tracker, food and exercise journal, bullet journal, with time sheets, goal sheets and a Planner. Everything you’d like to track.  Here’s a post about it with ISBNs https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/23/life-changing-journalling/. Check it out. I hope you and your kids like it!
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