spreadyoursmile

Dear you,

When looking at this image, we may be struck by how unusual it looks. The ground looks dry, hard and cracked. It is not somewhere we would expect a bright and beautiful to bloom from.

However, this can happen in our lives. From seemingly difficult and hard situations, growth and hope can occur.

In the dry ground, the crack provides an opportunity for the flower to bloom. The conditions aren’t favourable, the flower could grow much easier in compost. It would grow better somewhere with more sunlight and water.

We often fail to see the opportunities for growth in our life because we are looking for something better, something easier. Our conditions don’t look favourable so we blame our circumstances and use that as an excuse.  

The endurance of this flower has given way to its beauty. Good things can come out of difficult situations. When negative things happen, we can be tempted to give up. But perseverance can lead to beautiful results.

This flower didn’t give up because of its seemingly hostile environment. It didn’t give up because the ground was hard and dry. When tough times come, we too must not give up immediately. There is more at work than we can imagine. Going through difficulties teaches us valuable lessons and shapes us.

I hope despite the difficulties of your current circumstances, you grow forth and bloom.

Thank you for reading. And don’t forget, spread your smile 😊

Hi all. Today, I’m blessed to be able to share with you my article about hope through pain which has been published in the Catholic Voice, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Lancaster.

This is their website – http://www.catholicvoiceoflancaster.co.uk and my article can be accessed on page 12 at https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:7904f3bd-7740-4548-8700-e6a3ea67a7c8.

Judith was looking in the mirror.

There was barely anyone in the whole wide world who would dislike being called beautiful. Sadly, most people would deny they were beautiful as though it was some unattainable goal they could never ever possibly achieve.

What is beauty, she wondered.

Was it a certain colour of hair, a certain number on the weighing scale, a certain body shape? Is it six pack abs, a thigh gap and eyebrows on fleek all leading to numerous likes on Instagram photos?

She knew a lot of people thought it was and made many efforts to achieve certain standards. She herself had fallen into that trap.

Dear you,

So .. what is beauty?

There are some things that contain beauty in and of itself. So many different facets of nature – sunsets, stars, waterfalls. Being in the presence of these things, we can truly savour the moment and appreciate ‘beauty’.

But to actually possess the characteristic of beauty when you are a human being, that is different.

Feeling beautiful means that we feel good about ourselves. Unfortunately, people try and try to fit into another person’s definition of beauty. But in chasing that other person’s version of beauty, you are losing your own. Beauty doesn’t rest on another person’s ability to recognise it, it just is.

In the day and age of cyber bullying and trolls, it is painful to acknowledge but there is an ugly side to beauty. Young girls are body shamed and made to feel inferior about their appearance. Having no particular means to change aspects of themselves, they succumb to the hatred and plunge into the depths of self-destruction.

Back to beauty…

Beauty is gentleness, beauty is kindness, beauty is vulnerability.

These characteristics are not loud, they are not in your face and apparent. They lie beneath the surface. In fact, unless you look really closely, you probably would overlook them.

These characteristics take courage and guts, it is much easier to digitally alter your appearance, that’s for sure.

In a world of over seven billion people, there is absolutely no one way to define ‘beauty’. But I do believe that it is tied intricately to our very essence of being a human being. The things that make us truly us.

The trick is to not get overwhelmed by the never ending demands of acquiring the ‘beauty’ that society imposes on us. Instead, be the best version of yourselves and you’ll soon find that you are able to appreciate yourself and the beauty within you.

Thank you for reading. And don’t forget, spread your smile 😊

She always had high hopes and expectations for what she wanted her life to look like. But the reality did not match up.

She was feeling particularly flustered after hearing some bad news from a family member. She was also stressed about her finances. There were many problems at work.

For years, she had vowed to always remain positive. As much as she could. She thought that once she got to a particular age or a particular position in her job, she would be happy and settled.

However, she was realising that it was not that simple. Happiness was very fleeting. She could be happy about one thing but ten minutes later, if one little inconvenience occurred, she could feel completely different.

She realised her mood and temperament was based on fluctuating changes in her life. She had no control over these and when they came, she was really affected by them.

What was the way to combat this, she wondered. Was there a way of achieving true inner peace?

Dear you,

2020 came and went. It was a really difficult year for many and we looked ahead to 2021 with hope.

However, as most of us will have realised, just because the calendar year has changed doesn’t necessarily mean our lives have changed.

The issues and frustrations of 2020 have carried onto this year. There’s been more change and uncertainty.

It’s very easy to get discouraged and lose hope when we are easily affected by what goes on around us.

When we hear the news or about certain things, it’s natural to have an emotional response. But the problem comes when we dwell on these things and let it control our lives.

Problems and frustrations are always going to be part of life. We can spend a lot of time wishing this wasn’t the case. We can ignore problems and distract ourselves with other things. However, this usually makes things worse.

When you have true inner peace, your life is anchored and grounded. You aren’t constantly tossed about by the waves of life.

How do I achieve that, you may be wondering.

There is no simple and straightforward answer to that. It is a lifelong journey of learning more about ourselves and the world. For me, it is my faith that helps.

When we learn to accept our circumstances and be grateful for what we have, life gets a lot easier to handle.

So if there’s a lot going on right now which is affecting you adversely, please be assured that these circumstances will pass too.

Thank you for reading. And don’t forget, spread your smile 😊

I’m delighted to announce that a short story of mine has been published in an anthology!

This is available in paperback at:

And also available as an E-book at:

This is a crime story which I really enjoyed writing. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and believed in my writing 🙂

Judith was eating her dinner. She was laughing and cringing at the reality show she was watching. She knew it was mindless chatter but she secretly enjoyed it.

The screen flipped onto the adverts. Suddenly, things changed. The advert was about poverty and world hunger. Even as Judith tried to look away, she was stunned by the images of malnourished children. The images stirred something inside her.

Usually, when such adverts came on, she changed the channel. She couldn’t bear to look at such suffering right there in front of her in her living room. She imagined poverty as something that was a problem very far away from her.

The details for the charity flashed across the screen. Judith had a decision to make.

Would she change the channel? Would she completely ignore the advert and carry on indulging in her TV show? Or would she actually take the initiative to do something?

She glanced over at her kitchen. She had a fridge stacked with food. Her cupboards and drawers were overfilling with snacks. She had a variety of drinks on her counter.

The child in front of her eyes had none of these things.

The decision was clear. Judith noted down the details of the charity and decided to do what she could to help. Doing something was better than doing nothing. Every small step counted. 

Dear you,

There’s so many things out there that we know are happening but don’t think about enough. One such thing is world hunger.

It is saddening to think there are millions of people who do not have enough food whilst others have way too much which goes to waste.

Mary’s Meals is a wonderful charity who feed children in need. This is so vital as they can focus on their education.

Double the Love scheme means that the government will double the amount the charity receives till January 31^st. This is incredible and means your donation will be having double the impact.

£8 is all it takes to feed a child for an entire school year. Mary’s meals are now feeding over 1.5million children in 19 countries across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and South America. The COVID19 pandemic has exacerbated hunger levels throughout the world and every small or big donations has the potential to change this.

I know 2020 has been a difficult year but there are so many out there who are struggling more than us.

We are holding a quiz on 24^th January, 6-8pm. A quiz ticket costs £4 with a raffle ticket included. Extra raffle tickets are £1.50 each and there’s some nice personalised prizes.

Even if you can’t attend the quiz, any amount you donate would be really appreciated.

Here is the donation link – https://bit.ly/3mC1SgD

Please e-mail reviveyouth2020@gmail for any further info. You can follow us on Instagram at @reviveyouth.

I hope you’re able to contribute to our fundraiser in some way.

Thank you for reading. And don’t forget, spread your smile 😊

Here are the links to a set of Christmas Devotionals I wrote which has been published on the My Journey of Faith website. Thank you for your support this year. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Mother Mary

St. Joseph

Elizabeth

The Three Kings

The Shepherds

Baby Jesus

You Are All Light, In You There Is No Darkness

This is an article I wrote about the theme of being a ‘light’. It is especially relevant to the season of Advent we are in. Please do give it a read if you can. I hope it inspires you in some way. Also, check out the rest of the Joy In Truth website for some great content. Thank you.

Judith had a lot to do. She was doing her Christmas shopping. She had so many things to buy for so many people.

Firstly, for her friends. Then family. Then neighbours. Then work colleagues.

Also, she needed to buy a new Christmas tree, decorations including tinsel, baubles, fairy lights. Her front garden and back garden both needed decorations. And so did all the rooms in her house.

She needed to get food organised. She had to stock up the freezer. She had to buy all the ingredients she was planning to cook with.

Basically, she had a lot to do.

However, people around her kept stopping her progress.

Some carol singers. People asking for money. Fellow shoppers.

She was trying to exit the store she was in but the people in front of her were not moving. Judith was immediately impatient and frustrated.

She sighed loudly and tried to make it obvious that she was waiting for them to move. But nothing happened.

Finally, she just strode up to them and said loudly, ‘Excuse me, can you move?’

A flustered looking young woman mumbled, ‘I’m sorry. It’s my mum. She’s blind and she gets confused with her dementia. I’m telling her we need to leave but she won’t listen to me’.

The old lady alongside her looked confused and afraid.

Judith felt an immense sense of guilt and shame. There she was, thinking only of herself and everything she had to do. But there were many more people around her, who had problems, who needed consideration and kindness.

She reflected on how she had made the Christmas preparations all about herself when it needed to be about so much more. She needed to think of others and make this season of joy truly about giving.

Dear you,

It is very easy to get absorbed in our own lives and our own seemingly endless problems.

We become so self-absorbed that we forget other people’s needs.

The truth is, everyone has problems. Everyone is going through difficult things even if it may not seem like that on the outside.

“If we all threw our problems into a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back”.

This quote emphasises how we don’t see or understand the extent of other people’s problems.

One thing is for certain – everyone needs compassion and kindness.

When preparing for the festive season, there may be a lot of demands placed upon us. There’s a lot to do. But we have to pause and think, what is my intention behind all this?

If we are merely doing it for ourselves, is that enough? Is that enough to be fulfilled and satisfied?

I believe the answer is no.

I hope this festive season, as we approach the end of what has been a difficult year for many, we think more about others and less about ourselves.

Thank you for reading. And don’t forget, spread your smile 😊

Judith was tired. Extremely tired.

It had been a long week. Even though it was now the weekend, she still had plenty to do. They were mainly running errands for other people, helping them with things and checking up on friends and family.

She loved helping people, it was so rewarding and it gave her a thrill. However, she had to admit that she was a people pleaser. She wanted to please everyone and sometimes, this was at the detriment of her own health and well-being.

Judith was shaken awake by the phone trilling. She had fallen asleep on the sofa without meaning to. She picked up the phone, her head still fuzzy. It was her mother.

‘Hi, how are you? What are you doing?’

‘Nothing much’, Judith mumbled.

‘Were you sleeping? You sound groggy’.

‘Yeah.. Well, I wasn’t meant to be.. I fell asleep on the sofa’.

‘Are you not sleeping properly? Are you eating properly?’

‘I’m fine, I’m fine’.

‘Judith, you need to take care of yourself first. If you’re not well, you can’t look after yourself and you can’t look after others’.

Judith realised that this was very true. It was just what she needed to hear.

She realised she needed to make more time to rest and take care of herself.

Dear you,

Our culture glorifies being busy. We are expected to be productive and achieving things constantly.

We also have a lot of demands placed on us by the people around us. We naturally want to help others.

However, as the scenario above illustrates, we need to take care of ourselves first before we can even begin to do anything else.

A lot of people get overworked and burnt out. This is especially common in the coming holiday season. There seems to be an insurmountable amount of things to get done. But remember, you can only do one thing at a time. It’s all about taking small steps.

I hope you’re able to take some time to take care of yourself even amidst your busy life. This could be tending to your physical, mental, spiritual needs. It really is a very valuable and essential practice to undertake.

Thank you for reading. And don’t forget, spread your smile 😊