In the depths of the country

I went away on Tuesday and spent most of the week in the countryside.

I saw sheep safely grazing, and millions of rabbits grazing also around the caravan in which I stayed. I saw panting dogs on leads, and faces turning as their owners' said "Hello" and smiled at us in our plimsolls and caps which we donned all ready for adventures.

I saw gently ambling cows, and curious horses on rolling hills.

I saw a fast flowing river beating its foam against a sharp rocky slope.

I saw men and women jumping from land-rovers, emerging muddy wellies first and seeming healthy and happy.

I saw my children, pink with excitement, taking everything in. The sheep grazing, the hopping, white-tailed bunnies, the dogs with lolling tongues, strangers saying howdy, cows mooing and ambling towards shade, horses staring curiously at us townies, the river rushing and gushing downhill towards yet another country village, mud-encrusted land-rovers with farmers disembarking...

and the stone cross standing proud in the market place and the steady thud-thud of peace and healing, and the long talks about the future, and the past, and what to do with the life we've got and what we should do about people who oppose us and seek to constrain us and make us less than that which we are.

And I learned that there is more here than me and my worries. I learned all over again that I can trust my children to do what is right for them and best for them and I should not worry. I learned that they are amazing people who have truly wondrous minds and secret thoughts. I learned what is important and what is not.

In the depths of the country, I re-acquainted myself with peace and what matters and truth and what is meaningful.

And I am a better person for the four days in the green leafed idyll, the country lanes, the steep hills, the sheep, the rabbits, the caravan and a glimpse of the past ways of life.

No one can remove the 'me' from me. No one can scatter my ashes before I am dead. No one can tell my soul what is its purpose. No one can disturb me, or violate my sense of timelessness. No one can rip from me my relentless desire for righteousness and my thirst for justice.

I will fight on.

Peace is worth defending.