Best Beloved is 75 this week. He has been a hang glider pilot for most of our 53 years together. Over the years women-friends have often asked me how I can "allow" him to do something they see as dangerous. I have always believed the challenges of passion are preferable to the colourlessness of the 'safe' life, the excesses of enthusiasm by far outweighing the emotional effort of trying to ignite a spark in the woodpile of apathy.

Although I have never 'flown with the eagles' I count amongst my most precious memories the endless stories around our big old table in our home by the Indian Ocean - stories of flights, frights and failures, stories of successes and vistas that light every pilot's face with the kind of intense joy that most of us only dream of. After all, for a short while they have been the companions of birds…😊

But I have noticed that tales of accidents are the teaching tool, every action analysed and internalised. Here lies the power of vulnerability. When we drop the façade and share our failures and challenges, some other soul breathes a sigh of relief, hears and often is spared making that same mistake.

Yes, Isaiah 40:31 says “They that wait on the Lord will mount up with wings like eagles” but if you’re not flying high today, the Holy Spirit wants you to know that HE wants to be the wind beneath your wings.

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