Practical Magic?

Magic is the flutter in the stomach when your eyes meet, or the warmth that spreads through your veins when your lips touch. .............But magic can also be treacherous - it is the sting that lingers long after the harsh words have been exchanged, the searing realisation when the magic has died , followed by the scalding suspicion that it is only a matter of time, to quote one Hamlet, that this too too sullied flesh will grow weary and desirous of "the sleep to end The heartache,/ and the thousand natural shocks /That flesh is heir to"

Brainjuice picks up the 5-year-old cushion with a persian rug-themed hand-woven cover from beneath her desk - stuffed out of sight when the brand new red felt cushion took its position on the chair. The unfinishedness flap that hangs awkwardly off the top reveals yellowed fabric underneath, and she notices the patches of dried blood that flowed from fingers unpractised at a more feminine art. It came to her in the first few months, a memento of his love that she had not known was to turn into a memento of destroyed idealism. What to do with it? She holds it up and fingers one of the patches. It's starting to smell of the musty basement london flat she shared with two malaysian girls. Strange- it should smell more of the air-conditioned tropical i(if she could call it that) staffroom by now. It's her own memory she's smelling. She should throw it. In a few months, there will be no more reminiscing when she starts life anew as a married woman, and there will be no room in her heart or her house for objects of sentimental value. She should throw it. She will do it tomorrow.

Practical magic works far more slowly. You don't notice it - but he does. It comes to you when you least expect it - when the book you have been eyeing suddenly appears wrapped up in your lap, with a bright yellow envelope containing a short note in a card to boot. Practical magic can sometimes be annoying - at least it is mistakenly thought to be - you get a little grumpy when something inside you tells you that you only let yourself get grumpy because you know you can get away with it.

The peaks and the troughs of practical magic will hardly make your world spin - but you know that the bumps ahead will be met with a little kindness, a dash of sweetness, a generous helping of love and most of all, and earnest, unpretentious invitation to pray with you to leave them at the feet of the Lord who paid it all.