When I retired and there was no need to get up early in the morning, I would often, very irritatingly, find myself wide awake just before dawn. It’s a magical hour. Birds are awake too, and their songs, so lively and beautiful, are to my mind an evocation to the glory and honour of God, and seem to demonstrate a spontaneous, instinctive desire to please their own, and our Creator.

I wanted to join in those choruses. I wanted to please God. That was reward in itself. So I’d get up quietly, nuzzles a cup of tea, open my Bible and write down whatever thoughts would come, delving back into the past, all that I’ve ever heard or read about God. Hoping to relate, through humorous anecdotes, something worth knowing about the Saviour God I’ve gotten to know throughout my life.

Have I succeeded? I don’t know yet, though I am confident that the cheeky chirruping of a scruffy old sparrow like me (increasingly rare I might add) can raise a smile, or a grimace at least, from anyone who has the tenacity to plough through my verbiage.

But will I succeed in adding anything new or edifying to your inner, spiritual life? It’s for you to decide. I can only hope and pray. And of course I will.