Letters - 14 August 2015
From God to Gift Aid
Be still and know God
I have meditated for some years on this verse from Psalm 46:10. To start with, the whole verse: ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ and often reflecting slowly and deeply on each word in turn and joining them up as I went along until the whole verse was built up.
Gradually, over time, this distilled itself into ‘Be still, know God’ – that became my mantra. That’s why the poem grabbed me when I saw it (17 July). It was a homecoming.
I needed to reconnect with this practice. For all sorts of reasons, mainly stresses of one sort or another, I had let it go. This reflective poem spoke to my condition. I read it and reread it and relaxed into making it my practice once again.
Thank you, Kiron Gardner, for that of God in you speaking to that of God in me.
Maureen Jewell
Darkness of the soul
This wonderful article on ‘Darkness of the soul’ spoke to me (24 July). While I have not experienced depressive illness myself, I have been close to those who do, and Isobel’s vivid description of her experience echoes what I have heard from these people.
I know the truth of her comments about the lack of places of asylum today. A few months ago I managed to convince our local hospital to admit my severely depressed friend, who was greatly helped.
One of my relations was not so fortunate. After making several requests to be admitted to the same hospital, which were rejected, he decided to end his own life.
It fell to me to advise the outpatients department that my relation would not be able to attend his appointment for CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy). The team manager I spoke to offered her condolences and I asked: ‘How ill do you have to be to be admitted to hospital?’ She had no answer and, after a pause, said: ‘There will, of course, be a Serious Case Enquiry.’
I hope this article may reach a wider audience
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