Are you someone who makes lists of 'Things to Do'?

And do you ever actually ever tick off all the points on the list before more are added?

No - me neither!

No sooner have you got through all the things you need to do in a particular timescale then something else crops up and you're back to Square One with MORE needing to be done.

I came across a quote which I've been saving for a relevant day to share with you. 

And today is THE day!

It's a wise thought from a very wise woman - Elizabeth Fry.

You may have guessed that she's was a Christian person because this quote is actually a prayer

'Oh Lord, may I be directed what to do and what to leave undone'.

I think it's a good mantra to live by, because sometimes we just have to accept that we will NEVER get everything done in the time we set ourselves.

But we do need to prioritise what we do. Sometimes when we make our list we may (even subconsciously) put at the top the things we know will be easy to achieve. So if we start from the top of our list and work downwards, we MAY get some challenges completed, but some of the BIG issues we need to address may never be achieved.

So perhaps a little guidance, even if not from Almighty God, might be helpful. 

I don't know the context of this quote but I do know a bit about the author and I'm guessing not just from this prayer, but also because of what she's famous for, she was a woman with a rather long daily 'To Do List'.

Elizabeth Fry is best known for being a social and prison reformer - and she was born on this day (May 21st) in the year 1780 in the city of Norwich in the county of Norfolk in East Anglia in England.

She was a Christian philanthropist and a Quaker, a member of the Religious Society of Friends - sometimes also known simply as 'Friends' - who among other things believe that there is something of God in everybody and that each human being is of unique worth.

Valuing all people equally and opposing anything that may harm or threaten them is part of the Quaker 'theology' and from the beginnings of the Quaker movement in the mid 17th century, 'Friends' got involved in many social movements and philanthropy.  Quakers were among some of the first settlers in the USA where they got involved, among other things, in the abolition of slavery. Across the world they were involved in social justice projects, including prison reform.

In addition, as many started as craftspeople and artisans, they also grew businesses which not only made profit but improved the lot of the workers and their families. This was particularly significant because as the movement matured it coincided with the Industrial Revolution, which saw huge growth in manufacturing and industry, not all of which was beneficial to those who made it possible and put in the hard graft.

Some of the well known business and brands we know today have Quaker roots -  banks and financial institutions like  Barclays, Lloyds, and Friends Provident and chocolate and confectionery brands like Cadbury, Rowntree and Fry.

Which brings me back to Elizabeth Fry. The Fry family was a big Quaker clan whose influence was felt far and wide and not just in busines..

Looking into her life I discover that she was from a leading Norwich family. Her father, John Gurney, was a partner in Gurney's Bank, which would one day merge with Barclays. Elizabeth's mother, Catherine, was a member of the Barclay family who were among the founders of Barclays Bank.

Aged 20, Elizabeth married Joseph Fry, who was also in the banking business, and they moved to London. Within a year of marriage the first child arrived - between 1801 and 1822 she produced eleven (yes you heard right) children but Elizabeth was not just a 'stay at home Mom'. 

She was a recorded as a minister of the Religious Society of Friends in 1811 - remember this was at a time when women preachers were VERY VERY rare and the concept of women in Christian ministry was radical. Just two years later she was invited to visit Newgate Prison where she encountered deplorable conditions. Particularly horrifying for Elizabeth were the conditions in the women's section of the jail, which was was overcrowded with women and children.

Long story short, she set her mind and heart to reforming the prison system in Great Britain and as a result has earned the reputation as the "angel of prisons". From setting up a school for prisoners' children to campaigning for the rights of those transported to far off lands like Australia, sometimes for what we would now call quite petty crimes, Elizabeth was a woman on a mission. Her work helped to start a movement for the abolition of transportation.

Elizabeth Fry promoted the idea of rehabilitation instead of harsh punishment and encouraged the learning of skills while people, especially women, were incarcerated so that they could support themselves and their families when they were released. She was a major force behind new legislation to make the treatment of prisoners more humane, and she received support from the highest authority in the land, being granted meetings with and support from a young Queen Victoria. 

Her humanitarian work extended to helping homeless people and even after her death in 1845 her reputation inspired many social reformers. From 2001 to 2016, Elizabeth Fry was depicted on the reverse of £5 notes issued by the Bank of England, where she was shown reading to prisoners at Newgate Prison. 

So although we may not know much about her and her life, many of us will have carried her in our purses and pockets for years.

And today, as we remember Elizabeth Fry and all the things she managed to do in her relatively short life, I for one am pleased she prioritised what she did. There may have been times when, with her many family commitments, visiting prisoners and challenging some of the conventions of the day might not have been on the top of her 'to do' list, but thank goodness she somehow received the inspiration she needed to achieve all that she had to do. For without that, the world could have a very different place especially for those without a voice at a time when the world was changing so rapidly.

If you're as old as me, you'll remember the days before the internet ... and social media.

Those days when if we wanted to contact people, we would have to write a letter, take the trouble to meet them in person, or phone them.

Today, though, we can post something online, send a 'direct message' on one of the social media platforms and get almost instantaneous replies.

It's like magic! 

Well I think it is anyway.

When social media first came around I was a bit dubious. Did I really want to tell the world what I was up to? Did I really want my opinion out there? Did I want to get involved in conversations not just with people I know, but perhaps with those I don't?

Well ... the answer was 'YES'... although I determined from the start that I would try to be wise.

Social media has, of course, been accused of creating the downfall of humanity, or something similar.

But actually I've realised that social media is only the vehicle for misbehaviour and vile, and even evil. It allows us to be more vocal, to be nasty ... especially for those who want to do so while 'hiding' in plain sight. 

But as this quote reminds us ... it's not as simple as that!

And it's down to us all to call it out.

Take, for instance, the recent racist vile and vitriol posted online ... on Twitter primarily ... by those who blamed certain individual footballers for losing the England football team the Euro 2021 Cup.

So, a few of those most excellent young sportsmen missed a penalty which meant that the Italians won the game, and picked up the trophy.

In the past those racists who pointed out that these brilliant sportsmen are not white might have spouted their evil to like minded friends in the pub. But instead they posted on Twitter. Which thankfully resulted in lots of 'calling out' .. and hopefully a ban from that social media platform. Hopefully for life!

Posting on social media in public IS just like having your face on a big poster for all to see. And if you think you can behave immorally and unethically, and with hatred and offence, then think again!

You will be called out and there are masses of us online now who are determined that the social media platforms will NOT be hijacked by the 'Nasty'.

When I first started using social media, there were lots of people who doubted my sanity and thought I was going to the 'dark side' of life.  Social media was an evil place and we should all stay clear. If we didn't want to be corrupted, we should just not go there.

But I quickly learned that it didn't have to be like that. We don't have to exclude ourselves from the magic of social media. In fact, we can be part of the solution, rather than the problem or allowing the problems to be perpetuated.

I've seen so much amazing stuff, so much positivity, on social media. Prayer circles for sick friends, positive quotes and comments for people to be inspired by, encouragement for folk who are having a hard time. Certainly during the COVID19 pandemic, and lockdown, social media was a bit of a saviour for a lot of us, keeping us in touch with our family and friends when we could not meet. 

So ... as for me ... when I'm on social media I try to block the negative. I report when I see bad stuff, and I try to stay away from the controversial discussions. I certainly don't welcome them into my life and I don't go looking for the bad, but I do try to share the 'good'. It's part of what I'm trying to do with this daily blog, which I daily also post to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

I'm mentioning all  this today because apparently it was on July 15 2006 that Twitter was publicly launched!

Yes, it wasn't that long ago and yet these days Twitter and the other social media platforms - Facebook, Instagram, and now Tik Tok and other newer inventions - are just part of our every day life. And some of us can't imagine life without it!

When Twitter came along, with its 140 character limit, I thought I'd never get it. 

As you know if you read this blog regularly, I'm a bit verbose!

But now I love it. These days I get up to 280 characters to say what I want to say, but for me each tweet is a bit of challenge.

Although the first 'tweet' or message was sent in March 2006 by the company's CEO Jack Dorsey, (who created the platform with Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams) it was publicly launched in July and it soon caught on. By 2012, more than 100 million users posted 340 million tweets a day,  and Twitter was handling an average of 1.6 billion search queries every day.

Today (actually as of January this year)  Twitter  has in excess of 350million active users!

It's a powerful platform.

Yes, of course those who run these huge companies have a duty of care to ensure the platform is not abused, and to ensure those who do abuse others online are dealt with, but it is also down to us, the users, to ensure we behave online, and to call out those who don't.

If I want social media to be a healthy place, I need to be part of the community which encourages goodness online.

And I suggest that if we all did a bit of that, the world (and that includes social media) will be a better place!

Today is a public holiday here in Jersey in the Channel Islands - a 'bank holiday'.

It's also an extra holiday day in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not in Scotland. I'll tell you why in a few moments time.

But why do we have the 'August Bank Holiday' on the last Monday of the month?

Those of you who are old enough may remember when it wasn't always on that day... following a trial period which began in 1965, the last Monday of August was fixed as a public holiday in 1971. Not so long ago really.

In Scotland - here comes that fact I promised - today is NOT a bank holiday because they have their late summer holiday weekend earlier in the month. This year the Scottish had their bank holiday on Monday August 2nd because THEIRS always falls on the FIRST Monday of the month.

The chosen dates sort of also fit in well with the school year in the various nations. Scottish schools go back to class in August, whereas schools in the rest of the UK and in the British islands like Jersey don't return to school until early September. The long bank holiday weekend is supposed to be a way of helping us all enjoy the last moments of summer.

In fact, the August bank holiday was first introduced as a way to give us ALL a chance to make the most of the summer and ... interesting point here ... all four nations used to enjoy August bank holiday on the same date, actually on that first Monday of the month. However, in the early 1970s it was moved in most of the British nations, because apparently it clashed with the 'traditional' two week shut down that many companies went through in the summer... no point having an extra day off if people were already on holidays!

We need to go further back in history to discover where all this began. It was in 1871 that the Bank Holidays Act was passed by the British parliament and that formalised days like this. But if we wind the clock back even more, we discover that up until 1834 apparently there were 33 public holidays in the UK consisting of saint’s days and religious festivals. 

Now THAT'S nice!

Then some party pooper thought people were having too much time off and the public holidays were reduced to just four!

Actually the clue as to why these public holidays eventually became known as 'Bank' holidays is that the law was introduced into parliament and promoted by the Liberal Politician Sir John Lubbock, who was a banker as well as a parliamentarian. He was also apparently cricket-mad, and rumours abounded that Sir John actually chose his bank holiday dates to fit in with cricket matches in his home county!

It was his Bank Holidays Act of 1871 that made the four public holidays official. In fact, people were so grateful that for a while after that law was passed public holidays were called “St Lubbock's Days”.  That didn't stick, obviously! 

These days we in the British Isles and the UK have eight public or bank holidays in total - New Year, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, late May bank holiday (originally to coincide with the Christian festival of Whitsun ... it's the Monday after Pentecost)  ... August Bank holiday, of course ... and then Christmas Day and Boxing Day!

These are days to enjoy and celebrate with the family, days to rest and relax during busy periods of the year, and in the case of today - the August Bank Holiday - a day hopefully to enjoy one final glorious day of summer before we all tuck ourselves back into the routine of life come September.

Actually, some might say that we're a little hard done by because other countries do have more public holidays, Apparently India enjoys 21 public holidays and only Mexico has fewer than us here in the UK / Great Britain, with just seven.

Ok ... here we go ... another new week!

Don't know about you but sometimes when I wake up on a Monday I just want to hide under the covers and pretend it's still the weekend.  

But, with lots of do in the next few days, I'm encouraged to be a bit more positive about having to get up today and get moving!

Let's pull on our 'positive pants' and get with it, and be optimistic about what we have to do. 

Who knows, this might turn out to be an amazing week?

With COVID-19 figures once again rising, thanks to the new variant, we're all being a bit more careful about life.

Mask wearing, social distancing, sanitizing - stuff we became familiar with early in 2020 - are still good ways to stay safe. And as Christmas 2021 approaches, we seem to be back in the 'caution zone', with lots of events being cancelled or postponed and public restrictions already in place or due to be in place within weeks.

Because I care for a vulnerable person, I've actually not done much 'socialising' or travelling for quite a while so it's not making a big difference to me, but one thing that has been affected in my life is church going. I attended for a bit in the summer, once church was reopened after a year of closure, but I've not been for a while as coronavirus numbers began once again to rise.

Yesterday I did join a 'Zoom' call into a short prayer service held at church, which was wonderful, and as part of the presentation we were reminded of a TV advert which was produced last year (2020) by the British High Street retailer John Lewis and the supermarket chain which is part of the John Lewis Partnership - Waitrose.

If you're not aware, every year since 2007 John Lewis has become known for producing memorable Christmas television adverts. The ads have become an iconic annual tradition in Great Britain and once we see the festive ad then we know the countdown to Christmas has really begun.

Every now and then the ads are a bit controversial, but mostly they are quite slushy and emotional and use popular music which occasionally makes it into the UK Singles Chart. Social media really helps spread the vibes.  

Putting aside the fact that's it's a commercial venture, the adverts are more than often 'feel-good' and carry a lovely seasonal message which tugs at the heartstrings. And in 2020, when we were at the height of the third COVID-19 lockdown and Christmas was a time of great restrictions, the John Lewis message was particularly poignant.

'Give a little love - Together we can make a big difference' was the theme and it touched the hearts of the British nation, encouraging us all to reach out to our neighbours, be kinder, work together to make community a kinder space. 

Last year it feels like some people found kindness for the first time and realised the impact that love can make. Others rediscovered kindness  and we were reminded of the amazing knock-on effects our actions may have. 

And that's one of the focus points of the 2020 John Lewis advert  ... the 'circle' of love which is important to us humans. One act of love and kindness leading to another. As people are shown kindness so they, in turn, want to share that love and compassion with others.

So today, as we enter the final week before Christmas 2021, with all sort of uncertainty facing us yet again and many festive plans having to be cancelled,  and with many people once again fearing that they will spend Christmas alone, let's remind ourselves of the need to  ... 'Give a little Love'.

Let's look around for those who might be lonely and see if we can safely reach out to them and if possible, let's be the difference in our community for those who might need our kindness.

Enjoy and Be Inspired!