It’s great to know that you are loved. As we come to the end of a very eventful year it is great to be reminded that we are loved by the God of this universe who created us in His love for His purposes. And how great it is to know that we have experienced God’s love through our fellow creatures, especially through a loving spouse whom the Lord in His mercy and love brought into our lives. In my case my beloved Carole coming all the way from Kharagpur in India as a 4 year old in 1947. 

Since New Year this year I have experienced fairly good health apart from a gammy knee but I have realised even more deeply how blessed I have been to have had Carole as my loving wife for 54 years until her death 6 years ago, and to reflect on the amazing woman she was [and is]. And to have the support of my loving children and grandchildren.

This year it has been difficult to do all  I wanted to do in preparation for Christmas, so I decided to send out this blog to thank people for their loving kindnesses to me  and to wish them and their families every blessing for Christmas and the coming New Year 

I was preparing a Christmas greeting, and remembered a significant Christmas message I had given in St Peter’s Cathedral, Armidale when I was the Dean there decades ago. I remembered making a blog about it and found it from December 2023. It is blog No. 509 on my blog site www.jimholbeck.blog

You could click on this link to open it. 

Wishing you and your loved ones God’s richest blessings for Christmas and throughout 2026.

Yours affectionately in Christ.

In His love

Jim

No.585 posted on Wednesday 24 December2025