On the pilgrim way: ‘I know many widows fighting their lone battles with ageing’

03/06/2024 | Reform

Sheila Maxey is inspired by widows facing older age

I live a very sheltered life these days: a safe familiar home, no financial worries, a supportive family at the end of the phone, good neighbours for the occasional practical crisis….

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On the pilgrim way: ‘Can we discover the meaning of experiences many years later?’

29/04/2024 | Reform

It’s never too late to give thanks, Sheila Maxey finds

I can’t get T S Eliot’s words ‘We had the experience but we missed the meaning’ (Four Quartets: ‘The Dry Salvages’ III) out of my mind just now. My mind … Read More

On the pilgrim way: ‘I was a bit startled to find Rowan was dealing with the seven deadly sins’

26/03/2024 | Reform

Sheila Maxey grapples with the seven deadly sins

For the past few years, Lent, as a time of deeper prayer and self-examination, has largely passed me by but I decided that this year I would try to pay attention to … Read More

On the pilgrim way: ‘It seems such a trivial disability when I think of others who are in their 80s’

28/02/2024 | Reform

Sheila Maxey is missing her knitting

I am currently disabled. Not that you would notice….

Sheila Maxey is a member of Ingatestone United Reformed Church, Essex

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This is an extract from an article published in the March … Read More

On the pilgrim way: ‘I still find myself talking about “us” and “our” with reference to the present’

29/01/2024 | Reform

Sheila Maxey is finding confidence without being a couple

My daughter Mary, while missing her father very much, confessed to me that she had been unprepared for the sadness she also felt at the loss of the unit called ‘Mum … Read More

On the pilgrim way: ‘All this clearing out raises questions: What I am getting ready for?’

12/12/2023 | Reform

Sheila Maxey finds pleasure and pain in remembering

‘For everything there is a season – a time to keep and a time to throw away.’ (Ecclesiastes 3:6)

I have just been to Germany again to visit my ailing 88-year-old cousin, … Read More