Although I don’t believe in ghosts, and I’m not sure about the paranormal, I definitely do believe that a spiritual world exists, peopled by … people! And sometimes, the natural world and the spiritual one seem exceptionally close.

(The rather lengthy book extract that inspired this article is at the end. It’s from Vera Brittain’s autobiographical Testament of Youth, first published in 1933 – a conversation between soldier patients she overheard while working at a French hospital not far from the front line during WW1.)

Two personal experiences: When I visited my husband’s elderly aunt shortly before she died, she mentioned recognising some of the people she saw walking around (although they had died years previously). She was on her own in a small room at a nursing home at the time. 

My father-in-law was in hospital, for about the third time in short succession. In fact, he was nearing death though we weren’t sure of that. When he stopped breathing, my husband replaced the small ventilator tubes into his nose, and he did come round, but he said, ‘What? Why am I still here??’ 

Just lately I’ve been paying attention (reading or listening) to individuals explaining how they started out on what they are now known for: actors, scientists, musicians, sports people, writers, engineers, chefs, historians, artists, even politicians. Many of them began on their life’s path when they were quite young, by taking up a chance opportunity, or being encouraged by someone – a parent, a friend, a teacher – who helped them develop some spark of interest or shared what they valued with the young person. 

There are as many different skills and occupations as there are individuals, really. 

“Absolutely everyone in the heavens and on earth has a different kind of goodness [usefulness]. One and the same kind of goodness can never exist in two people; it has to vary in order for each kind to remain in existence separately.” Secrets of Heaven 6706

“There is an infinite variety of good activites in heaven, and each individual is, so to speak, his or her own activity.” Heaven & Hell 41

“I will give to each one of you according to your works.” Revelation 2:24

“… We should take care of our soul not for its own sake, but for the sake of the services we then perform in both worlds. … Having something for a purpose means loving it above all else.” Secrets of Heaven 5949:2,3

“There is a spiritual meaning throughout the Word and in all its details. “ (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 9)

On each day of my working life as a proofreader I looked closely at words. Now that enjoyable task has re-entered my life, and in the past few months I’ve been pondering on the associations between three word-related things I do every day.

1. Each morning, my husband and I play Wordle on his iPad. At first it’s a total guess as to what that day’s 5-letter word will be. We usually figure it out well within the six tries that players are allowed.

2. Then we move on to Connections, where we must arrange 16 words into 4 groups of 4 associated words. This is trickier, and is heavily weighted to American thinking, culture, expressions etc. We’re getting better at it, even if we don’t really always ‘get’ the connections the game makes.

3. Finally, if time allows, I’ll spend a while proofreading an assigned part of the digitised version of Potts’ Concordance. (Early in 2024 I joined a growing team of people working on this particular aspect of the New Christian Bible Study project.) 

Like the game Connections, Potts’ Concordance has many closely associated words. It goes alphabetically through terms used in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings. I love this proofreading work! It gets me deep into what words / phrases used in the Bible mean on a correspondential level, and also shows where to find further references and explanations for words used in the Writings themselves. Even if I don’t always ‘get’ what is being said (which does happen quite often), surely my soul is learning!

Queen Elizabeth II reigned as the British monarch for just over 70 years, from 1952 until her death in 2022. She was ‘my’ Queen once I moved to England as a bride. 

Britain is known for its polished rituals of pomp and circumstance – Trooping the Colour for the monarch’s birthday, changing guards at Buckingham Palace (cf. A.A.Milne’s poem), royal weddings, royal funerals – and coronations. The Queen’s oldest son, now known as King Charles III, got his big turn in the spotlight on a rainy 6 May 2023. His mother’s coronation was the first ever to be televised; Charles’ coronation was watched online in countries around the world – maybe you watched it. It was definitely a religious ceremony, a service of worship with holy communion and a coronation. Its traditional rituals, garments and accompanying regalia – orb, scepters, jewel-encrusted swords of justice and of mercy, historic crowns – are full of symbolism, and the service was full of solemn oaths, prayers and declarations. “I come not to be served, but to serve,” vowed Charles at the start of the ceremony.