A few days ago I began thinking on the imagery of the thought that we hold onto our wounds like a cloak or a safety blanket – there’s a kind of comfort in holding them close and nestling into their remembrance. We resist laying them down as though doing so exposes us to further pain. No one likes to feel naked except by choice and in utter.. complete… safety – just look at the universality of the dreams in which people wake in a cold sweat having seen themselves suddenly naked in public. Exposed, naked, vulnerable are all pretty synonymous.
Continue reading “Let the fig leaves fall”System: not solo
I’ve heard many a message on the words “train up a child in the way he should go” and “teach these words of mine to your children“, and Commandment number 5 which is: “honour your father and mother“. There has been much pontificating on the presumed promises and even on how adults are to honour their parents so that things will go well for them…for us… and I suspect in generations gone by, Commandment number 5 was fairly drilled into children… dare I recal – pretty sure I did a bit of that too.
:'(
But.
Continue reading “System: not solo”Teens & Transitions #2
This is a bit of a cheats post I suppose. Instead of stories, examples or home-grown parables I’m just posting a list of questions and a couple of Scriptures to help parents of teens/young adults discern when to speak and when to keep silent in their young people’s lives.
Obviously there’s a great deal of difference between situations – and not all these questions are applicable to all scenarios, but maybe something will click and be of help…. a 12 year old, or a 22 year old living in the parents’ home, a 22 year old whose behaviour/choices are affecting younger siblings, a 22 year old living away from home or a 22 year old that is married.
Continue reading “Teens & Transitions #2”The curious relationship between being pickled and baptised
I was 23, married and waiting for babies to start arriving when I got serious with God and soon after, baptised. I was dunked in a line-up by a Pentecostal pastor in a hired main-line church in the city, on a hot airconditionless afternoon since the warehouse style Pentecostal building had no baptistry.
Family and friends of the 28 dunkees came along to watch. Some with joy, some with curiosity, some with bamboozlement and some with clouds of annoyance/compulsion/duty to said loved ones simmering over their heads.
Continue reading “The curious relationship between being pickled and baptised”Genesis chapter 1
It would take me over 3 years to do this chapter by chapter if I managed one a day. Let’s see how long I can keep this up! All bets are off!
Continue reading “Genesis chapter 1”Shifting the furniture
I asked one of the Shalom fellas to pray for me after church one Saturday night and he asked what it was that I wanted prayer for. I told him, and he nodded once, long and slow and quietly said “ok but I should tell you, I’m going to pray as the Holy Spirit shows me because what we think we need is often not what He wants to give.” – and then he began to pray.
Continue reading “Shifting the furniture”Skill
I know a Potter.
He made the most intricate work.
And then He breathed into His workmanship and it opened its eyes and lived.
This has been a VSP (very short post 🙂 )
Extrapolations 23
The presence of a Protector.
The availability of everything I actually need.
Rest.
Peace.
Life.
Renewal.
Guidance.
Turning around
I am hiding.
I’m in plain sight but hiding.
My eyes hold too much light.
They want to close and sleep and not think.
My mind is crashing with fragments of thought
– rolling and tipping and fixing and ruling.
I’m standing still but I’m running.
Deconstructing fear
Fear has ingredients. It isn’t just it’s own thing. A baby will crawl without hesitation over a glass floor with a deep drop beneath it. A toddler will not… their depth perception has developed and they’ll have had some experience now with falling.
Continue reading “Deconstructing fear”