Grant me the serenity...

I had to disappear from Blipfoto for a while. I shall give no reasons here except to say, as much as I really didn’t want to break away from it, it was probably for the best for that time.

When I started, I wanted Blipfoto to be a document of my year: The record of my story in 2014 and, in the immediate week or so after pausing, I was a bit down that my record would have a void, that a bit of the story would be missing: But, a few months down the line from that moment and a couple of months after my darling friend, Nicole, said these words to me, I have resolved that the break in story telling, in it’s own way, tells a story: it forms part of my year.

And so I am returning, perhaps not daily, I shall see what happens.

Over the last couple of weeks or so, I have been getting back into exercise and living where I do in the beautiful seaside town of Bexhill, I have taken the opportunity to rise a little earlier and make the most of the mornings we’ve had as the weather improved.

There is something about early mornings, particularly beautiful mornings, that makes one reflect that little more: At least, I do. I have taken to my bicycle for my pre-work warm up and have found myself cycling through the Sussex countryside and along the promenade deep in thought about various aspects of life, life events and where I find myself as a result of those.

Last week, as I stood out of the saddle to mount Galley Hill, a short climb at the end of Bexhill Seafront, I suddenly noticed that, for a few miles, I’d had a few lines repeating over and over in my head. At the top of Galley Hill, I took the photo I have shared for my return to Blipfoto today.

Every morning since this photo was taken, I have made a point while either getting ready for work or while out cycling, of saying part of Reinhold Niebuhr’s “The Serenity Prayer’:


God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference


The last few months have not been the easiest: The last couple of weeks even have had their challenges but I am discovering that serenity, courage and wisdom do not come looking for you, you have to go and find them. I thought I was finding mine in the most unlikely of places: An early morning alarm, a sunrise, a morning tide, a summers’ morning calm, a Sussex field, a quiet road, a train to work and a busy London tube. But perhaps the most unlikely place of all is in me. In my thoughts and in my head. And while it may have been the last place I would have looked, it’s good to know that they were in me all along but just needed a gentle nudge to start showing themselves.

God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference


Let the story continue...