The Restory Retreat Centre

Ceramic V-bowl with leaves by Matilda Angus Coffee table converted from old dining room table by George Angus "When you buy from an independent artist, you are buying more than just a painting [or vase, or chair]. You are buying hundreds of hours of experimentation and thousands of failures. You are buying days, weeks, months, years of frustration and moments of pure joy. You are buying nights of worry about paying the rent, having enough money to eat, having enough money to feed the children, the birds, the dog. You aren’t just buying a thing, you are buying a piece of heart, part of soul, a private moment in someone’s life. Most importantly, you are buying that artist more time to do something they are fully passionate about; something that makes all the above worth the fear and the doubt; something that puts the life into living.”                                                                                                ~

"Sometimes your life comes into focus one frame at a time."                                                                                         From the movie The Majestic Acts 8 has always fascinated me. That part that tells of the turn of events immediately following the death of Stephen, with a young Saul standing and watching to the side, holding the coats of those busy throwing stones. After that tragic event the young church scatters all over the Roman Empire and one of the late Stephen’s companions, Philip ends up in a Samaritan city. The Samaritans, despised by the Jews and low down on the social ladder, are very receptive to Philip’s message. To such an extent that the church leaders in Jerusalem come down to witness this success story for themselves. Such good news amidst such desperate times is a blessing in itself and it is obvious that Philip is just the man for the job. I would have left him right there. God doesn’t. He calls him to

Photograph by George Angus “I am not saying that we should love death, but rather that we should love life so generously, without picking and choosing, that we automatically include it (life’s other half) in our love.”                                                                                    Rainer Maria Rilke I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love.  Yes, may you come to know his love - although it can never be fully known - and so be completely filled with the very nature of God.                                                                                  Eph 3:17-19 (Good News Bible) “The amazing premise of Christian mysticism is that, when God loves you, he transforms you into love; when God loves you, he gives the fullness of his Divinity to you and, through you, back to God and to others and,