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

As we move further into October the trees are slowly evolving into a myriad of autumn colours.

Thought on Saturday – October – 09/10/2010

As Gandhi stepped aboard a train one day, one of his shoes slipped off and landed on the track. He was unable to retrieve it as the train was moving. To the amazement of his companions, Gandhi calmly took off his other shoe and threw it back along the track to land close to the first. Asked by a fellow passenger why he did so, Gandhi smiled. “The poor man who finds the shoe lying on the track”, he replied, “will now have a pair he can use”.

It is easy to complain, grumble and give out about many things. It is much more difficult to turn something negative into positive. Even when things don’t go our way, we can still most definitely turn something good in our direction. In one of the scripture readings marked out for tomorrow (Timothy 2:8-13), Paul talks about his own hardships and difficulties. He feels chained down, weighed down with no energy or enthusiasm for the day ahead. Yet he turns the negative into positive by saying that nothing he is going through can chain up or tie down God’s good news. The challenge for all of us is keep turning our negatives into positive and knowing that God wants to shine light and hope into our darkest corners.