June 2014

                                                                                                    From the Dragons’ Den

One of my favourite childhood memories is of hymns that I sang lustily when I attended Sunday School.  I still possess ‘The Sunday School Hymnary’ edited by Carey Bonner and enjoy dipping into it on occasion to remind myself of the hymns that were my favourites.  The vocabulary is extremely dated but many of the thoughts and ideas are still pertinent today.

 Prior to the verses each hymn displayed a bible text to give a foretaste of what was to follow.  One of my favourites had as its text – It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts XX.35). Some of the words included in the verses have stayed with me always and are still relevant in today’s daily living: –

          Have you had a kindness shown?  Pass it on, pass it on.

          ‘Twas not given for thee alone.  Pass it on, pass it on…………………………

          Did you hear the loving word? Pass it on, pass it on……………………………

          ‘Twas the sunshine of a smile – pass it on, pass it on……

There are several more verses but it is the one about the smile in particular that sticks with me.  I was reminded of this during the story at a recent session of Little Dragons when, during the action, I observed smiles on the faces of my young audience and, as we progressed through the story, those smiles grew larger and larger which, in turn, made my own smile grow.  The image of those smiles and my own smile stayed with me for the rest of the day – indeed for several days – and my life seemed to be filled with sunshine even though rain continued its steady progress outside.

When we feel that we are drowning in waves of problems, be they worries concerning health, wealth, families and all the other problems that beset us, it is easy to feel alone and at a loss.  However, if we are able to smile through our fears and worries we get back an amazing return – people smile at us and we perhaps feel loved, comforted and cared for. 

My mind is now teeming with lines from songs that remind me about smiles.  I will not allow myself to write them down at this moment, otherwise nothing else will be achieved for the rest of the morning.  Perhaps we could run a competition!!

Perhaps best left for another day!!!!!

                                                                           Val Butterworth