Photo was taken yesterday at Tooreenbawn, Millstreet, Co.Cork (Irl)

The big thaw came yesterday at least to the south west of Ireland. Torrential heavy rain and melting snow from Mushera mountain turned the normally quiet Aubane river into a raging torrent yesterday.

Thought on Wednesday – January – 13/01/2010

‘Over time, I’ve come to a new awareness: I am not the only person who has gone through life watching as one certainty after another is dismantled and turns to dust. Nor am I alone in the realization that there is another kind of certainty that grows stronger in us every day as we begin to make a new spiritual vessel out of the shards of the old one.’ ~Joan Chittister

Even as we begin a new year there are few things certain. The weather is probably the best example. In recent weeks we have dealt with snow, ice and now rain and floods! But also in our own lives there is nothing certain. The unexpected can throw us completely off balance and just as quick as we’re thrown off balance, it can sometimes take much longer to get back on track again. From a spiritual point of view, our belief is that just as one door closes another one will always open. We may have to pick up many pieces from a certainty in our lives that crumbled away. But spiritually God is in there too helping us pick up those pieces and helping us rebuild our lives slowly. Such a new beginning will be vulnerable but we trust in God to help and guide us through.