and finally.....

I have been meaning to do this for weeks (well a couple or so) but life kind of caught up with me.

Taking time out for the Assembly was good, and returning to parish for a relatively quiet week was good too... spent a week "just being a minister" visiting, planning worship, catching up on admin etc....
Then a week of mayhem- the Jubilee was lovely, but taking time off compromises the rest of the week...

A couple of days ago I attended Colloquium - a half day conference on the theme of Language, Women and the Church of Scotland (not its full title - but near enough) during it I had a few thoughts of my own which I need to work through.
I found myself with a question about nature and nurture - how much of our behaviour, response and way of life is decided by our being, and how much by the way we are influenced during development?

I am now, at 52, totally happy in my own skin
I like who I am, how I've developed
I like how I dress, and how I live
I will never be the tall willowy person I imagined was trying to get out of my tall and well rounded frame.
I am, who I am
But I also know that I am this person because of the influence of my parents and my teachers in my earliest years.
I grew up believing that I was capable of anything; that my gender made no difference. And that has stood me in good stead over the years. For a long time I thought this was a generational approach, until I discovered people of similar gaes to me with totally different outlooks on life!

I was raised to be independent, free to challenge, and free to express my own opinion - and always ready to justify and explain that opinion - thus, when I write, when I converse, when I reflect I know those early years are still influencing me... still guiding me on.
And that is something to be very grateful for