He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, Lord’, he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors’ (1 Kings 19.4). Andrea Boscoli (c.1560–c.1606), The Prophet Elijah Visited By an Angel, Palais de Beaux-arts de Lille (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) 7.45 am: A communion. The…

8.00 am: A communion. While waiting for the remnant of postgraduate monitoring forms to find their way to me, I completed administration that would accompany them up the food chain: This was the day of Phoebe’s funeral. Attendance was by invitation only. I’d be present in my capacity as a friend, tutor, and representative of the School of Art. I…

Too many unanticipated departures;Too many unwanted separations;Too many severed friendships;Just one has been too many. Sunday, June 16. 10.00 am: A Father’s Day late-breakfast treat, ably cooked by my loving sons: At 1.30 pm, I waved them off on a journey to their respective cities. 2.00 pm: Work catchup. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to take a Saturday off without consequences…

12.15 am: My boys had come home, and they’d bought me a plant in advance of Fathers’ Day: a candelabra cactus (although not a cactus, strictly speaking, but, rather, an euphorbia). It thrives on neglect. Ideally suited to my horticultural prowess, therefore. ‘He’ (for obvious reasons) will take pride of place in my studio, where sunlight and warmth can be…

There’s a small dark cloud upon the horizon. 7.45 am: A communion. Things come into sharper focus, suddenly. Intuitions become realisations. Instincts become rationalisations. Hopes prove to be unfounded. The road ahead vanishes a few metres in front of your feet. And, the grounds for optimism fall away, like a sink hole, beneath them. Renunciation and retreat; repentance and resistance;…

Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not (Psalm 71.18);But even the very hairs on your head are numbered (Luke 12.7). New Era. 6.30 am: Awoke. 7.30 am: A communion. 8.15 am: Yesterday, in between reflections and various administrations, I began setting up several research projects for the summer period. For sometime, my intent has…

2009–19: 5.30 am: Awoke. I didn’t want to leave my 50s without taking a backward glance. The details of a decade evaporate on impact. Saying that, a good many of them, for half that period, have been preserved within the pages of this diary, and the Diary (July 16, 2014 – September 4, 2018). Whatever significance these writings have had…

Even the darkness will not be dark to you;the night will shine like the day,for darkness is as light to you (Psalm 139.12). 6.30 am: Awake. 7.30 am: A communion. The verse (above) was written to assure the anxious faithful that they cannot escape God’s presence, influence, and cognizance of them. His reach is as wide as it’s deep. Though they…

A mortal, born of woman, few of days, and full of trouble, comes up like a flower and withers, flees like a shadow and does not last (Job 14.1–2). Sunday, June 9, 2019. The sides of the stone font at Llanychaearn Church, Rhydyfelin are inscribed with graffiti going back to the early 1700s. It’s impossible to distinguish the earliest from…

8.00 am: A communion. And there must be times of transition and, with them, new realisations, convictions, and determinations. Woe unto you if your life is at a standstill. Change within ourselves is often precipitated by external events. We adapt to circumstances in order to survive their impact. For example, loss, disappoint, pain, loneliness, distress, and uncertainty – acting either…