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Thursday, April 23, 2015

New Year - New Quotes!

Just when you thought it was safe to read my blog .... I have another set of quotes from the chocolates we received at Christmas time!

Here goes:
"Le passé est un phare, non un port."  Proverbe russe

"The past is a lighthouse, not a port."  Russian proverb. This is a very important distinction to make, especially as we continue on the Vitality Pathway in our churches. One of the tasks the temporary Vitality team will accomplish is looking at the history of the local church in order to discern the key times, positive and negative, of the life of this church. It also helps discern patterns of behaviour and gives an idea of the culture of the church. When brought before the Lord, these things can lead to the necessary changes to become a healthy missional church. (see below also)

"Ne fais rien dans ta vie, qui te fasse redouter que ton voisin en prenne connaissance." Epicure
"Don't do anything in your life about which you would not want your neighbour to find out." Epicure.
Mmmm. How very moral of him. But how very appropriate. This helps justify rules ! Common values to be lived out in society. If you don't adhere to Christian values, this type of morality would do very well to make sure we live together in relative harmony, once those common values and ensuing rules were defined.
But for Christians it is different. "Don't do anything that you would not want God to see ..." is a negative, legalistic version for Christians. Many of us grew up with this approach. But freedom in Christ, being identified with Christ, takes away the legalistic side. "Because Jesus loved me enough to die in my place, I have been saved. I live in grace. My gratitude, and the freedom I have (but did not earn myself!), plus the fact that the Holy Spirit is an intimate part of my life, means that I strive to live out my life based on Kingdom values and in the strength of God, not on my own strength. So I don't want to do anything in my life which contradicts the freedom I have in Christ, nor which is not in line with God's morality (which is perfect)."

"Qu'on me donne six heures pour couper un arbre, j'en passerai quatre à préparer ma hache." Abraham Lincoln.
"If you give me six hours to cut down a tree, I will spend four of those hours preparing my axe."
Such an appropriate quote for the Vitality Pathway ! Our first major workshop 'Veritas', uses the PARABLE OF THE SOWER to explain how we need to prepare the soil in order to gain the best results once the grain is planted. Before making necessary changes, before understanding what God wants from our church given who we are and the context in which we are placed, we need to do a lot of investigating, preparation and, especially, prayer. Good preparation will facilitate (but not necessarily guarantee) success.

"La beauté touche les sens et le beau touche l'âme." Joseph Joubert
"Beauty touches the senses and the beautiful (the lovely, the fine) touches the soul."
The French language can be so beautiful and can express beautiful ideas so beautifully.
Studying, meditating, reflecting on passages of the Bible is such a beautiful exercise and touches the soul.
Contemplating Jesus is so sweet - his beauty touches the soul and invites us to see so much beauty in the world and in others.

"Les plus beaux mots du monde ne sont que des sons inutiles si vous ne pouvez pas les comprendre." Anatole France
"The most beautiful words in the world are just useless sounds if you can't understand them."
Sends me back to all we ever learn about the importance of communication, real communication. Non-violent communication. Although some poets would disagree ...
In the Vitality Pathway we are encouraged to choose 3 ideas after each meeting that we are going to communicate to the wider church community. And we start each session with a word from The Word - which puts everything into perspective and which is nourishment to our soul. Understanding God's Word is vital and revitalizing.

"Une lecture amusante est aussi utile à la santé que l'exercice du corps". Emmanuel Kant

"An enteraining read is as useful to our health as exercising our bodies." 
Healthy mind, healthy body !
We are what we read ???
We are what we eat, apparently. 

Monday, April 6, 2015

At last an intelligent interviewer ...

I've known about Nick Vujicic for a number of years, not least because people mention him to me since we are both Aussies. I've always appreciated his positive attitude, his choices to be positive and to trust in God in much deeper ways than we usually mean when we are Christians, his humour and his great way of connecting to teenage crowds in particular. He's a very public example of how God can use us when we make ourselves available and even vulnerable enough to be used by Him. It takes courage and obedience to go that road.

I particularly appreciated the intelligent questions of the interviewer. Didn't know this programme so am interested in looking it up.

Anyway, here is the link for you to enjoy as well. It's currently circulating on F/book.

Nick Vujicic in Moscow

Thursday, April 2, 2015

And this is for my children

Dad sends me Nikki Gemmell articles. I've come to love her literary style and especially appreciate her point of view on our common concerns. She wrote a great piece about a nun once.

This is for posterity - for my kids.
PUBERTY BLUES by Nikki Gemmell (The Weekend Australian Magazine, Feb 2015)

T0 my child starting high school: .
Now is the beginning of the letting
go. When you start the walking
away, and already 1can feel the
reins of attachment loosening, you tugging at
the bit. 1 can't control your world anymore
- your destiny, happiness, bedtime or screen
time (as much as 1want to) - nor can 1 shape
your sense of discipline, hunger and drive, who
you hang out with and what foods you eat
beyond this, your always-home. It's up to you
now to seize the world, or not, without my close
guidance; all the vividness and variety around
you. It's up to you to have discipline and drive,
or not, but you won't get far without either. It's
up to you to risk, fail, pick yourself up, try again,
sornething different. There'll be an endless
moving away from the known now, a shutting
out. Of your parents most of all. It's what it
takes to become adult.
A recent study confirms what l'm learning
fast - that a majority of parents think its harder
coping with a teenager than a newborn.
Thirteen, according to the parents surveyed by
Netmums, is the most gruelling age. Company
founder Siobhan Freegard says, "It is almost like
a rebirth of your children when puberty kicks
in ... The change can seem it has occurred
almost overnight, and the child you thought you
knew has suddenly turned into somebody you
don't recognise." Its about control, most of all.
We parents no longer have as tight a command
and you're kicking out strong, bucking off so
much; the hovering, judgment, nagging, the
attempts at shaping, the domestic
claustrophobia. You need release, to find your
own way. But it's hard for
us to let go. We've held
on tighr for so long.
You'll build fences
around yourself,
barricades. There'll be
swearing, no doubt;
maybe even slammed doors, stormings off-:
declarations, possibly, that family members are
hated. So be it. It's all in the mix of what it takes
to become an adult, Anger will roar at you, a
sense that no one understands, no one gets it.
And at times you'll feel lost. That you don't
know who you are. That you're isolated and
friendless and that no one else, ever, has felt
more alone than you. Oh we have. It's hard,
being a teenager; the great churn of it. We know,
we've been rhere. lt's hard, feeling too much.
May you one day understand why Lynx (or its
equivalent) is a good, regular thing - apparently
this finally happens when the opposite sex comes
into your life (or the same sex, if you're that way
inclined: we're leaving that all up to you). Open
wide your bedroom window, let in the light.
Seize high school. Not just the narrowly academic
side of it, which is only part of the unfolding
wonder of these years. There's so much variety
now in secondary school - your parents could
only dream of it fabulous clubs and obscure
sports and all manner of creative activities. Try
something fresh, often; it's all about finding your
passion, what these years are really about, to me,
not sorne number on a piece of paper at the end
of it, One of the saddest things 1ever heard was
from a 40-year-old mate: "1 have no passion in
life." Now is the time to glean it.
Beware social media - what is written in a
careless second will leave an electronic imprint
that could one day be traced by a potential
employer, or a fellow studenr's mother. Gulp
the world. Don't bury your head in a screen.
And don't entirely lose
the ludic, that little boy
still bubbling up, so close
under your skin. It breaks
your mother's heart to see
it - with happiness. Be
courageously kind, and
reckless with your exuberance. You are radiant
and beautiful and don't even know it.
Everything about you feels forceful and fragile.
This is a time of self-doubt and hesitation,
bravery and bluff and 1 carry your vivid
mortifications, your hurts and pain like iron in
my chest. Because 1 am a mother. Never forget
you can talk to me. 1 might understand.

Words and ideas of others ...

I said the same thing on my last post: it's a connecting experience reading the words and ideas of others. I love finding phrases which describe thoughts or experiences I can so relate to.
Here are two quotes from extremely different sources, but which coincide for me :

Albert Camus: Le Désert (Les Noces) Sorry, it's in French
"Le matérialisme le plus répugnant n'est pas celui qu'on croit, mais bien celui qui veut nous faire passer des idées mortes pour des réalités vivantes et détourner sur des mythes stériles l'attention obstinée et lucide que nous portons à ce qui en nous doit mourir pour toujours."

OK - it's a bit heavy and the sentence is unusually long for a French text. Translation ? Here goes:
"The most repugnant form of materialism is not the one we think of generally, but the form which wants us to believe dead ideas are in fact living realities and the form which distracts our obstinant and clear-sighted attention on what we carry in us which is destined to die forever, which distracts this attention towards sterile myths."

On a much lighter philosophical note, but which deals in materialism and sterile myths: this article from Natasha Robinson in her column 'Plus Life' (The Weekend Australian, Feb 2015)

"COOKING CULT THAT LEAVES ME COLD
THERE is a target on my back. 1 unwittingly have become
an apron-wearing whistleblower and the strings
of that apron may one day be found around my throat.
The devotees of the cult 1 have blown wide open
number in their tens of thousands, They are organised,
they are rich and they will go to any length to defend
their master, They are steadily taking over the means of
production and inserting it into every kitchen in the
country. If you can come up with $2000, that is, Or even
if you can't, don't worry. You can pay it off.
Yes, 1 am speaking of the Thermomix. You may have
heard of it referred to as the Thermy. It's essentially a
glorified food processor, It chops, it steams, it grinds, it
whirrs and it cooks at the touch of a button. It's a lovable-
sounding name, but let me assure you it's not a lovable
machine. It gives you no love at aIl. It's noisy, and
it's clinical. And did 1 mention it's TWO THOUSAND
DOLLARS?
Now 1 don't want to be unfair, If you can't cook to
save your life, the Thermomix may be your best friend,
If you have special dietary requirements to cater for and
 must cook from scratch it's useful, If you're an activated
almonds kind of type you also may worship the Thermy
as you pump out cold-pressed almond milk and churn-your-
own butter, aIl while engaging in a headstand .

1 may be the only busy mum in the inner-city cirde of
Sydney who does not love the Thermomix. People, 1
tried, 1 attended a demonstration night. We made the
risotto; we made the custard. Heck, we even made the
pizza dough, l've gotta say, aIl of it was average.
Undeterred, 1 borrowed my neighbour's Thermomix
for three weeks. l gave it a really good go. 1 know
that plenty of hatted chefs have a Thermy in their kitchens
 for knocking up ganache, but let me tell you, for ordinary
mortals, using a Thermomix is not cooking.
For aIl its wizardry, you are still left with the worst
parts of cooking (peeling onion skin, washing up) without
aIl the best bits.
1 don't want to boast but 1 make a mean risotto.
Creamy, with just the right amount of cream. How do 1
know? Because 1 taste. A lot. 1 mix. For 40 minutes. And
I love it.
Yes, 1 couId be doing the mopping while Thermy
makes stodgy risotto, but guess what? Mopping can
wait. So can the bath. Because my kids are right up there
at the stove with me, adding chunks of butter, mixing
flour and water in their own little ceramic pots and feeding
their version of risotto to their dolls.
This is what 1 love about cooking. It's labour-intensive,
it's hypnotic, it's creative, it's messy, and it's a grand
excuse for licking spoons of chocolate batter. What
cornes out when the oven is opened is always unique.
And properly homemade."
__________________________________________
Natasha Robinson didn't really write this column. She is
merely the conduit for a brave Thermowhistleblower