Some 22 months ago, I had less than 20 hours before taking off to Bucharest (including a 12-hour night bus trip to London), and I was taking a last stroll on the Ness Walk in Inverness. I crossed the white pedestrian bridge (built in 1881), took a glance at the daffodills, then followed a little alley, with the church (I don’t know which ‘Church of Scotland’ it was) on my right & the graveyard to my left.
Soaking with impressions of bonnie Ness Walk, on top of the load of memories gathered in the previous seven months of travels, I don’t remember to have thought of anything in particular.Then I saw quote the shown in the fourth picture from the Song of Songs on the pavement: “Many waters cannot quench the love, nor can rivers wash it away (…)”
Exactly a week before going to Britain, I had read the very same fragment, but my heart was ablaze with the sentence issued in the continuation of the verse:“(…) If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned”. I had gone to the UK broken-hearted, and the fabulous experience cured me.
As I gazed at the old tombstones through the young grass, I realized that we won’t pass beyond the grave with our experiences (no matter how spectacular or dull they were), but with our love.
Two months later, God would bring into my life the person to whom this peculiar blog post (as if they weren’t all pretty weird!) is especially addressed.
Therefore, here I am now, just like when I was leaving Scotland, concentrated on the first part of the verse – on this love that can’t be quenched, nor washed away.
The Lord has been giving me a lot of blessings, along with humbling circumstances, as we all have a cross to bear. But what I yearned for and what I’m most grateful for is such a love.
[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]
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12 comments:
To love is to place our happiness in the happiness of another and love is never afraid of giving too much, by the way...
All the best,
Gabi
Love Never Fails
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPNVgX_YPIU
Very beautiful post Bogdan. You know this was thought by some to be a site that St Columba preached at?
(Incidentally, the 'Loch Ness Monster' should more accurately be called the 'River Ness Monster' because hat's where it was cast out according to Adomnan).
Perhaps you'll agree that for all its faults, Inverness is a very special city?
@ Gabi
Thanks for being a constant reader of this blog, and for adding little remarks to many of my posts!
It's always good to know that I've still got some 'fans' left :-)
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@ Gregor
Do you mean that this little alley between the church (on the right hand side) and the graveyard (on the left, having another church farther to the left) was a place where St. Columba is thought to have preached?
Or is it the church? Or do you mean that it's 'somewhere' on this lovely Ness Walk?
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I didn't get the opportunity to become familiar with the city's faults. Undoubtedly, I also find it very beautiful.
No wonder that one of the links published above in my post is this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jeffzycinski/2009/05/paris_on_the_ness.shtml
Dear Bogdan
If I remember right, the hillock the church on the left is on was called St Michaels and St Columba is said to have preached there. Maybe have to double check.
I am pleased that you liked Inverness. Many have criticised the concrete tower blocks that were built during the 60s. I think they add character, and that it is a very beautiful city.
Thanks for the information on St. Columba! This Ness walk amazed me with its 7-8 churches... actually, how many are there?
Too bad that none is an Orthodox church :-( Yet we don't know the Lord's ways!
As Protestant churches are emptier & emptier, maybe a strong Orthodox community will appear in the Highlands' capital. I would have never imagined to find Orthodox believers in the Highlands, however, God made me a good surprise!
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To be honest, I didn't notice any 'unpleasant' building in Inverness, but maybe I wasn't paying too much attention.
Where you refering to these?
http://deadlinescotland.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/invrness.jpg
http://deadlinescotland.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/13290-2548/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6999996.ece
Since I'm coming from Eastern Europe, you can imagine I've seen lots of ugly buildings.
But I've learned to put up with their 'ugliness', and occasionally even to find some of them pretty interesting.
In the last century, building concrete blocks of flats in former Medieval cities of Romania (mainly in Transylvania) has been very common, but these constructions didn't 'spoil' the beauty of the older ones.
As a matter of fact, they offer a good term of comparison, and sometimes make even very old & not too well preserved buildings look wonderful compared to the monstrosity of modern (functional but often tasteless) architecture.
Maybe one day you could share here
http://pesherpictures.blogspot.com/ pictures of these controversed buildings, and I could give you an opinion.
Dear Bogdan
I hope to update my photography website soon, at least now I know I have a reader ;-)
My friend Gareth has suggested that we make an online guidebook to Inverness. I will keep you informed of that.
Please post pictures of those supposingly very 'ugly' buildings which earned a 'bad reputation' for what I found to be a lovely city!
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An 'online guidebook to Inverness' would be most welcome, but do you think you could also find sponsors, investors or will it be an entirely private blog?
as fi vrut si eu sa intalnesc ortodocsi prin plimbarea in Scotia, dar...am fost tot in miscare, sa vedem cat mai multe...superb in Higlands...Isle of Skye si toata tara. N-am ajuns la Inverness. In schimb nu mi-a placut deloc Galsgow-ul. Mi s-a parut cel mai negru, maro si gri (la propriu si nu doar) oras care l-am vazut. Poate nici n-am avut timp mai mult...
Cum spuneam, am dat intamplator peste blog si tot citesc de cateva ore.
Ce ma face sa citesc? ortodoxul din uk/scotland. Cum reusesti sa "rezisti" acolo? e din ce in ce mai greu in tara, dar printre nereligiosi/atei, etc? M-am tot intrebat asta cat am circulat pe acolo. Ma intrebam daca or fi ortodocsi in Scotia, unde ici colo vedeai o casa. Daca sunt ce fac? Rezista?
Am vazut si eu biserici vechi si care erau restaurant, muzeu, etc.
Hm! Chiar m-ai surprins...placut.
Dumnezeu sa te ocroteasca si sa te indrume mereu.
Dear Anonymous (18 April 2010 00:39),
I can't hide the fact that I feel blessed anytime the Lord brings a new reader to this corner of virtual world - 'MunteanUK' :-)
And I guess it's the fault of my incomplete profile the fact that so many people (like you do now) get the impression that I'm still in the UK.
I thought anyone reading at least some of my 263 posts would pretty clearly understand that I left this interesting country... although I briefly visited it in 2009 as well, and - God willing - I could go again in 2010.
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Although I first time spent less than 24 hours in Inverness, I got the chance to attend a Divine Liturgy in Fort Augustus, and make Orthodox friends in the Highlands.
It was once-in-a-lifetime experience, and if it weren't for God's miraculous interventions in some key-moments, it wouldn't have been possible to make friends in such a short time.
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Glasgow is a lovely city (in spite of appearing so grey!), and this opinion is not only mine.
It's shared by a Greek Archimandrite who studied theology there, and remained a priest in Scotland afterwards.
So, time and again, I can only say that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' :-)
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I guess you read enough - from this series Ortodoxia în Scoţia [Orthodoxy in Scotland] or other posts - to become convinced that Orthodox believers do 'resist' in Scotland, as they do in other parts of the world.
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Thank you for your visit & words of support. I'm looking forward for you to read the rest of my blog!
Multumesc pentru raspuns. Imi era şi nu-mi era foarte clar daca eşti sau nu în uk. Acum am înţeles. :)
Poate daca voi mai avea ocazia sa vad mai mult Glasgow-ul va fi altfel. Am trecut doar prin oras.
Dar citesc cu plăcere ce scrie pe acest blog. Nu am reusit să citesc tot ce este scris :)) (nici un sfert din cele 263 posts...)
Mă bucur că poti merge din nou acolo. Abia aştept noile impresii.
Dumnezeu să te ocrotească mereu.
@ Anonymous (18 April 2010 20:03)
Keep on reading! I'm looking forward for more comments!
I thank the Lord that at every few months a reader willing to interact with me comes across my blog! :-)
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