The Robin is probably one of the most photographed garden birds. But it often invites a photo to be taken, keeping close to the action and never too shy to stay away like other birds do. The photo today was taken by Siegfried Poepperl from Pixabay
On This Day
On April 20th 1862 The first pasteurization test was completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard
On April 20th 2974 The Northern Ireland troubles and conflict between republican and loyalist paramilitaries, British security forces, and civil rights groups, claimed its 1000th victim
On April 20th 2021 Derek Chauvin, a former police officer, was found guilty of killing George Floyd, an unarmed African American man whose neck he knelt on while attempting to arrest him in 2020; Floyd’s death caused massive protests across the world
Birthday’s Today🎂
Nicholas Lyndhurst (who played Rodney in Only Fools and Horses) is 62
Shay Given (former Irish goalkeeper) is 47
Jessica Lange (Actress) is 74
Significance Of Today
Today is Volunteer Recognition Day. Volunteers make our world go round and do amazing work in our communities each day and they are but they are our real-life saints and superheroes of this world. And although they don’t ask to be paid for all of their selfless work, they definitely deserve our utmost respect and appreciation, which is exactly what Volunteer Recognition Day is all about.
Interesting Quote for Today
“Only from the heart can you touch the sky” ~Rumi
Saint For Today
Saint for Today is St Agnes
Did You Know😇
Thought For The Week
‘More than anything in my experience, hope is what beats in the heart of all people, particularly in the heart of the Irish. Every action is about hope, it can make things better.” ~President Joe Biden speaking in Dundalk during the week
There is a story about a boy who sat on the steps of a building with a battered hat by his feet. A cardboard sign read: “I’m blind please help”. The hat held a few small coins. A man was walking by. He dropped a euro into the hat, picked up the sign, turned it around, wrote something on it and put it back where he had found it. Soon the hat began to fill up with coins and notes.
That afternoon the same man was passing by again and came over to check how the boy was doing. “What did you write on my sign this morning,” asked the boy. The man said he wrote much the same except that he used different words. This is what he had written: “You are enjoying a beautiful day, but I cannot see it.”
Both signs had told the people that the boy was blind. One shared the facts, the other shared a personal experience. The personal experience touched people and was the reason why the boy’s hat had been filled with lots of coins.
The message of Easter has to also be a personal experience. On its own it is factual that doesn’t touch us much. But when we personalise it, the Easter story becomes alive. It is a story filled with hope, it is about celebrating new beginnings, it is embracing opportunity, it is about believing in love, kindness and goodness. It is as President Joe Biden puts it about recognising the hope that beats in the heart of everyone. Take away this hope and we have nothing.
The Easter journey and celebration lasts for six weeks. This is not random but a reminder of giving enough time to feel this hope, to see this hope and to be this hope to each other.
The Thought For The Week is updated each Monday
