Today is Friday, the end of a very long and tiring week. Alfie and I are now settled into the apartment in Rome and he is getting used to living in a flat and alongside the many feral cats in the neighbourhood. - Quite a challenge for an outdoors-loving, cat-hating lurcher!

Monday was a difficult day. We were flying to Rome from Heathrow and we set off from home at 1 am. The flight took off on time, with Alfie in the Hold. Two hours later, we should have been in Rome, but a fault on the plane meant we had to turn back to London. Several hours later, on a new plane, we took off again.

Arriving in Rome, it took us over three hours to locate Alfie! He had been sent to Cargo City, with general freight. Finding Cargo City was difficult enough,but we then had to see several different people (World Cargo, Customs etc)in several different locations. We had to complete various forms, in Italian and hand over various amounts of money. While I was straining to understand the Italians we met, I realised how important it is to actually listen with complete concentration if we are to understand the meaning behind the words. It is no good simply hearing a message if we don't understand it. I was reminded of the Transfiguration story in the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 17) and God's exasperated intervention when Peter seems to have missed the point,"Listen to him!"

May we all listen attentively!

As I get older, I notice that Time seems to be flying by at a tremendous speed. It seems hardly a minute since Christmas and the thick ice and snow that covered much of England, and here we are, trembling on the threshold of Spring, with the promise of fresh green shoots and crisp, blue skies and Easter on the horizon.
Life is very busy for me as I prepare to spend much more time in Rome with my husband. So many "essential" items to take with me, so many things to put in place before I travel on Monday - I have been quite breathless!
But, suddenly, we are in the season of Lent, and I am relieved to take a break from the business of every day life to stop, to reflect on my relationship with God, to journey through the wilderness with Jesus, then on to Jerusalem and the cross. A journey that doesn't end in a death, but in a Resurrection and hope for mankind.
So deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Jesus in his suffering. Be rejected, killed - and raised on the third day. Choose eternal life - love the LORD your God and live!