A Prayer for my global family on the Eve of Christmas

May the light of love touch our hearts in this Season

May the words of the Great Master the Christ be ever in our minds and on our lips

May we be a beacon of light, a peaceful presence for all whose lives we touch.



St Francis put it better than I can with his powerful invocation:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.Where there is hatred, let me sow love.Where there is injury, pardon.Where there is doubt, faith.Where there is despair, hope.Where there is darkness, light.Where there is sadness, joy.O Divine Master,grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;to be understood, as to understand;to be loved, as to love.For it is in giving that we receive.It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.


Chapter 13 drawing from Life:

It was breakfast at 6.30am. Joe gave Rhona a bright-eyed smile as she made a bee line for the coffee pot. She rolled her eyes and left him to attack his pyramid of wheat biscuits. At exactly seven she made it to the van where she had to field his cheerful query “Don’t you do mornings Rhona?” She told him she was husbanding her energy and tried to ignore the clownish face he made to express his utter disbelief. At least he had the sense not to talk to her all the way down to Russell and over to Long Bay. By the end of the drive she was feeling more human and just brave enough to face the job in hand. It was so unfair of Joe to look so completely laid back about it all. She was utterly petrified.

It transpired that Justin needed Mickey to discuss some technical details with him that morning, so for the first few changes Rhona worked with the assistant photographer Al. Al was young and a little nervous too. Next to Joe Davis he looked positively anorexic in his ribbed jersey and skinny jeans. His narrow boyish face was pinched as he fiddled with his equipment, telling Rhona he was probably just as nervous as she was.

Joe stood nearby encouraging them both. Once she got over the stage fright Rhona found herself enjoying the play acting and the pace of the work. Her favourite was a diaphanous, ice- blue wrap, which she wore over a lilac one piece bathing suit. Al said it reminded him of his Mum’s Enya CD’s which amused her greatly, but gave her clues to the ethereal feel he was aiming for. By the time Mickey took over they were onto day wear and Rhona was able to match his more accelerated pace and direct macho style with an edge of her own.

They finished ahead of the schedule and were driving into Russell township just before midday. When they climbed from the van outside the old church Rhona saw that the extras had arrived and were getting their instructions from Anna. Gracie was there helping too, and she gave her a wave. The men pointed themselves resolutely towards the garden bar of the hotel, which left Rhona free until 1.30 when the tide would be right for the last session near the wharf.

She wandered about the churchyard as she waited to share lunch with Gracie and Anna. Her fingers itched to photograph the place and for the first time in ages she was without her sketch pad. She had to satisfy herself with tracing the musket holes in the church weather boards with her fingers. It irritated her and she made her way back to the van to sit on the step. She saw that Gracie and Anna had disappeared. That irritated her too. She lit a cigarette and leant back with the sun on her face wondering what the real source of the anger was. She tried to focus on all the sounds she could hear instead of listening to a pointless tape of self-sabotaging thoughts. She listened to the background noise of voices from the hotel and the ferry docking at the wharf. Closer to hand was the sound of boots crunching on gravel. She turned her head to see Joe walking slowly over to the van. She waved to him without getting up. She wasn’t sure she wanted company. He came and perched next to her telling her lunch was underway. “Were you having a nap?”

Rhona pulled a face. “No. I got grumpy so I’m taking time out. I’ve been over at the church.”

Joe grunted and told her how much restoration the church needed. When she asked him how he knew so much about it he looked evasive. She wondered why. He stretched his long legs out beside her little ones and she saw him smile at the juxtaposition in front of them. Finally she said “You don’t live here then?”

Joe laughed quietly. “No. My family connections are here though.”

Rhona nodded. When he didn’t add anything further she turned to him with a curious little frown on her face. “I don’t understand.”

He gazed at her steadily. She detected a slight challenge there. “Which bit don’t you understand?”

“I know your family connections are here. It’s written on your face remember? The way you move suggests some social standing. So I assume you act and model for light relief, as some sort of break from whatever else you do, yet you tell me you’re an actor.”

Joe stood up and leaned his shoulder against the van, standing over her, grinning.

“Are you getting grumpy with me now?”

Rhona smiled. She couldn’t stay sour when he looked like that. “Probably. Especially now you are trying to distract me so you don’t have to answer my nosey questions.” He was probably regretting his friendly overtures, she thought. She looked beyond him and said “Anyway you’re saved. Here comes Anna.”

He shook his head at her, still smiling before he walked away, erect and comfortable, as if he was used to covering long distances on foot. He made Anna laugh at something he said on the way past.

Rhona got up to take the mug and roll she was offered and asked Anna if she was escaping too. Anna nodded. “It’s going to be frantic later. I asked Gracie to wait for Joe by the way.” She smiled conspiratorially. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.”

Just the smell of the roll was helping Rhona feel more positive. “No. We were talking about the old church.”

Sitting together on the step, the ladies ate in silence for a while. They had a good view of all the comings and goings without having to get involved. Anna pointed out a few of the people who had come in just for the day. She said quite a lot of them were design students from the Auckland polytech’. They were all to be organised into what Mickey called his “crowd scenes” she said.

When they finished lunch Rhona made to get up but Anna pulled her back down saying

“We have another ten minutes. Make the most of it. There will be no peace until we are back in this van on the way back to Kerikeri.”