The season of giving approaches and bank accounts tremor in anticipatory fear! We are pressured, convinced and almost conned by the consumerist society that we inhabit and `buy` into to spend more than we have giving people presents we can’t afford and, perhaps , they don’t actually want. Television, every bill board and advertising is inducing us, luring and seducing us into spending money. The great day arrives and wheechs past in a blurr of wrapping paper, presents, a Bacchanalian orgy of food and drink rushing manically to hit the sofa sated with excess… too insulin-ed out to enjoy much more than a post pradial nap!

How about giving time, with children it could be to sit and read a book, one on one with them, volunteer to push the swing etc. Take a teenager to a fast-food restaurant you might not normally attend, again, one on one time with them in their world. Perhaps a voucher for an adult to meet for coffee in the next month and gift them our undivided attention throughout, a foot massage a walk through the park in the frost. Something they can experience to remember…

Think of yourself as a poet in action with your poetry being the occasion you share with another…bring it to life, add as much colour as possible and laugh.

“Beloved, Please open my imagination to whatever will give most joy to……… in this instance. Thank you, Amen