sitting in the sunshine - we've had hardly any this summer and I am so thirsty for it I keep moving my chair to stay in it - soaking it up like water in a desert . . . I just had a thought. I was reading recently one of the sermons of a great saint from the past. I think it was John Chrysostom - one of the few saints whose lives are celebrated by Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches alike. He used the phrase 'the gentle yoke of Christ'. It's not a phrase that I would normally linger over, but it suddenly struck me (or it might just be sunstroke - not sure) that a yoke was one of those pieces of wood that harnessed oxen together so they would stay level with one another when they were ploughing . . . That is the extent of my knowledge of ancient farming methods but I am guessing that, without the yoke, the strength of the ox might be quite useless. Christ harnessing our strength then, and all of it - not just some a measly bit of it - for his work of love . . . but, notice, it is not our yoke but his and the word 'gentle' is not just medicine to take the pain out of it but an essential part of the yoke - like the wood perhaps. That seems important. Not sure if any of that makes sense - though it did to me at the time. Back to my lovely sunshine now.