A Copy of a Blog I published in May 2012

I wrote to Berlioz (Peter) in May 2012:

Hi Peter! I am sure this day and the two posts you wrote about it are going to stay in my memory. I had a lovely day. It was such a good idea to go for this drive, wasn’t it? Love, Uta

Now, seven years have passed and today Peter sent me an answer with the following invitation:

Hi Uta, it was indeed a lovely day and I invite you to do same drive on the 1, May this year. Love Peter

I just answered: Yes, Peter, sure I’ll love to do the same drive with you on the 1st of May this year. So, this is coming up in three days!! Very much looking forward to this. Love, Uta 🙂

The following two links are to Peter’s two posts about our outing seven years ago:

https://berlioz1935.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/the-old-and-the-new-australia/#comment-3299

https://berlioz1935.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/1-may-2012/

And here is the link to my post from May 2012:

What does God want me to do?

I copy my post from sevrn years ago here:

What does God want me to do?

Last Sunday at Mass I was confronted with the above question. As it happened it was a day when I was in quite a bit of physical pain. The pain didn’t start out to be really bad. I would be all right walking to church, so I thought. But far from it. After walking the distance, which took about twenty-five minutes, the pain was getting quite considerable. I arrived at the church at the last minute. But Father was still standing there shaking hands. He shook my hand too.

I happened to find a seat beside Sister Kevin. I greeted her and sat down. I told myself if I could just rest my knee and concentrate on my breathing, the pain would be bearable. I started reflecting on how God probably wanted to tell me something. Maybe God wanted me to make changes to my life as to correspond better with my aging body. What changes to my life should I make? What sort of changes did God actually want me to do?

I was very moved by the beautiful singing in the church. Both Fr Francis Tran and the Seminarian, Mr Stephen Varney, were singing Mass. Both have such beautiful voices! The church choir sang very well too. Stephen was given the homily that morning. He pointed out that for some people the Priesthood can offer a fulfilling way of life. They may think that it might be too hard to stick to being a priest. Even though for most people it is right to get married, you may think about it that it is also often not easy to stick to being husband and wife. It all depends on what God wants you to do, doesn’t it?

Monday has come and gone, so has Tuesday. Today is Wednesday and the pain is still there. I can cope with it as long as I don’t do too much! I cancelled the walks with my neighbour, Irene. I didn’t even go to the pool on Monday or to the Thai Yoga class on Tuesday. Peter could have driven me to the pool. But I declined.

When Peter suggested on Tuesday, the first of May, we could drive to Berry and then further on to Hampden Bridge, I joyfully agreed to this. We had a lovely day out. The weather was perfect for an outing. The good thing was, I didn’t have to walk much. Peter took lots of pictures. I took quite a few pictures too, some of them out of the window from the car.

This leads to Peter’s blog about our outing and another blog about his thoughts to the 1st of May:

https://berlioz1935.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/the-old-and-the-new-australia/

At the moment I do not want to think about seeing the doctor or the dentist or the optometrist. Within the next couple of months I ought to see all these people. Just now I only want to rest and get better.

DIGITAL CAMERA — Peter looks over the coast south of Kiama

From there we drove on to Berry where we had some pies for lunch. We also bought some cake at the Milkwood Bakery. This is a newly opened bakery in Queen Street. They are a branch of the Berry Sourdough Cafe in Prince Alfred Street, which is famous for very good breakfasts.

These are some autumn leaves in Berry and the following picture shows a tree with autumn leaves in this particular street in Berry

This is where we turned off from Berry taking the Tourist Drive to Hampden Bridge

We saw some unusual cloud formations on the way. This was one of them.

This is part of the Kangaroo Valley Road

Further along the Tourist Road

A gate to a property along the Road

Tagged: Autumn, Autumn Leaves, Berry, choir, Hampden Bridge, Mass, Priesthood

20 thoughts on “What does God want me to do?”

Hello, Aunty Uta. Sad to hear you are in pain. Do you have arthritis? Or is this an old injury? I hope it’s been looked at and you are getting the right treatment for it.

Thanks for your concern, dear Mary-Ann. It’s not an old injury. It’s probably old age, don’t you think:

Some mild discomfort and initial stiffness that gradually alleviates with increased movement is natural in aging but not the pain you described. I would recommend that you have it examined if it recurs or persists. It may be something that’s easily treated. The last thing you want is something that will restrict your mobility. This would be very detrimental to your continued well-being.

You’re right, Mary-Ann. What you say makes a lot of sense to me. Actually Peter has to see his doctor for his annual check-up so he can keep his drivers’ license. In the past he liked to see his doctor at the Medical Centre Wednesday nights, when he was on night duty and there wasn’t a very long waiting time. We both tried to see this doctor last night. There were already ten people signed in waiting to see him. This would have meant a waiting time of more than two hours for us. After consultation with the receptionist we decided we would see the doctor early Friday morning, because on Thursday he’s not available. So I hope for the best now, that it can be easily treated.

From Berlioz (Peter):

“What does God wants you to do?” How can an atheist, like me, answer this question? Philosophers, sages and other wise people have thought about this important question for centuries. It is practical the same as asking, “What is the meaning of (my) life?”

Let’s assume that your implied assumption is right and there is a God. I think he does not want you to do anything other than to be. His purpose for you falls under the inscrutable. Who knows what God wants you to do? Even bad people have a mission given to them by God. Think of Judas. Without him Jesus could have escaped capture or not? Even Jesus wasn’t sure what was happening when he asked, “Why have you forsaken me?” He of all people should have known that was his purpose.

To say your cross is your hurting knee, might be a bit harsh, but it is a reminder that our bodies are subject to decay and sickness; two other aspects of God’s plans for you.

And what if we assume there is no God? You have to take responsible action and be happy with what you done. Try to be sure within yourself. Every action is the basis for the next action – cause and effect. Resting in the church was the right thing to do. Seeing a doctor will be the next right thing to do.

Thanks, Berlioz, for this comment. Of course I realise that seeing the doctor is going to be the next right thing to do. It looks I won’t be able to avoid it!

Having the outing with you was the right thing to do. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the clouds in the sky were performing in an artful way.

The bakery in Berry is a French bakery and it felt like a trip to the “Provence” in the Autumn.
The cake was delicious and the bread wholesome.

The bit of “Provence” in Berry was indeed very welcome. I loved the whole outing. We are very blessed to live in such a beautiful area.

Hi Uta,

I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing some pain and I hope that you find some comfort soon.

However, it would appear that, in spite of your pain, you still managed to find some enjoyment. Perhaps there is a lesson for us in that ie even in our most difficult moments, we can still find joy in our lives.

Get better soon,

Carthage

Hi Carthage, Oh yes, there’s a lot of enjoyment in life even in old age. Pain just tells me I have to change something. Maybe just slow down a bit more?
Thank you very much for your good wishes. Uta

LOVED LOVED LOVED your pictures, and very much envy you! An excellent blog, & very interesting. I am sorry you appear to be n pain & I hope things even out, work out. Sincerely, Noeleen

Thanks, Noeleen.

Aunty Uta, I meant also to say that I think it’s great you do thai yoga & swimming. I think these things are perfect. I am genuinely sorry about your pain & I just don’t know what you can actually do, because I truly would have thought the swimming would do it. I truly hope you’re better at least today… And the pictures, sigh. Great camera! 🙂

You are right, Noeleen, thai yoga and swimming are perfect exercises for me or have been for as long as this arthritic pain didn’t overwhelm me. Yes, I found out now from the doctor that it has to do with arthritis. My knee was xrayed. So now I am on anti-imflammatory tablets.
The doctor didn’t mention diet. Personally I think I ought to do some changes to my eating habits. Wish me luck with this, Noeleen!
Thank you so much for thinking of me. I keep thinking about you a lot too!

By the way, Noeleen, if you would like to see some more of those pictures we took last Tuesday, please go to Peter’s blog. If you go to the end of my writing (before the pictures start) you’re going to find the link. I think you’ll be interested in browsing through Peter’s blog!

Actually Peter wrote about our excursion to Hampden Bridge in two parts. Both parts have some good photos in it.

I do wish you luck, Aunty Uta, all all luck! YOU CAN DO IT!!

Yes, thank you, Noeleen

Sending you healing light and love… the answers will come. 😉

Thanks for that, Eliz.

Twelve more Days

Today is Friday. In exactly three more weeks we’ll depart Germany to go back to Australia. So in Berlin we have only

TWELVE MORE DAYS.

Why are we kind of panicky about what to do with the last few days in Berlin? There’s no simple answer. I tell myself, don’t worry, play it by ear. Still, writing about it may help a bit to see a bit more clearly. Actually I think I am pretty laid back concerning the planning we have to do on a daily basis. Maybe too laid back. For instance I didn’t do anything yet about finding my ‘lost’ brother B. Nobody cares where he is. Do I care? Well, I do and I don’t. If only I knew what I should be doing. Is it right to do nothing? I just don’t know.

The relationship with brother B. has always been a bit strained and a bit confusing. The relationship with brother P. on the other hand was always easy going. Of course we don’t see eye to eye in everything. But I think we tend not to hold grudges against each other. As I said, easy going. This is what it mostly is.

Hubby’s sister and brother-in-law arrived from Austria just a couple of days ago. We saw them yesterday at the other sister’s place. We spent six lovely hours with them. Peter’s sister Ilse provided a home-cooked lunch. Later on we had coffee and cake. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. The five of us plus Ilse’s partner had much to talk about, since we have quite a few memories to share. The visitors are going to stay in Berlin till next Thursday. Of course they want to see us again. Only so far we have no clue when this is going to be. We tell ourselves we’ll wait and see. In the meantime there are quite a few other people who’d love to see us again before we leave Berlin.

I have childhood memories about Leipzig. It would be great to go there for a day. Going by train it’s only about two hours away from Berlin. At the moment we still think we might be able to spend one day in Leipzig. Indeed, we do think there’s still a chance we can do this as planned. There are other places in Germany we’d like to visit. Only it seems to be out of our reach at this time. I wonder whether there’s going to be another time. I guess, it all depends on our priorities, doesn’t it?

After a number of overcast days the sun is out today It’s not freezing yet but there’s a chill in the air. Since there’s no wind, we don’t feel the cold very much. A lot of trees have lost nearly all their leaves. Around the houses here in the Hansa Viertel big piles of autumn leaves are building up every day. Workers busily pack them up into huge bags and cart them away. Once another load of leaves is taken away, the lawns under the huge trees look still beautiful green.

By the way, I’m very much looking forward to spend the last few days of our stay in Germany at P’s and A’s place 100 km north of Berlin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which is a quiet, relaxing place. Actually very few people live in this area. It is full of natural beauty and altogether very different from Berlin. Come to think of it, there are lots of quiet, relaxing places in Berlin too. But it’s also a city with millions and millions of very busy people. One thing is for sure: It’s never boring in Berlin!

We visited the Bode Museum the other day. I was very impressed by the beauty of the building and the quality of the displays. We also saw an excellent movie, called AMOUR (Liebe). This was a very slow moving film about an elderly couple (right up our alley!). It won the PALME D’OR at the FESTIVAL DE CANNES.