Year: 2021

Careless Words

Posted on by Olaf

Even the kindest souls can do it and probably we’ve all done it at some time or another – used words carelessly.  Rather than thinking first, we speak and then think later. It might be an on-the-spur-of-the-moment quip at someone else’s expense or an outburst of irritation that sends words like heat-seeking missiles and the damage is done.  The result?  A look of pain on the face of the person receiving it or bringing a sharp repost and a cooling in a relationship as trust feels damaged. Regret will follow but if words are tossed around like matches, eventually they will find something to ignite and a measure of destruction begins.  Words are not to be used to harm others as a fencer gone berserk might use a sword lacerating all those around or as lighted matches thrown carelessly. Maybe you’ve been on the receiving end more recently than being the one discharging those sharp words. Either way, reflect a little on the way you’ve given and received words for their impact is considerable.

  • ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will make me go in a corner and cry by myself for hours’ – Eric Idle
  • ‘Insults, like arrows, can pierce through the heart and bring you down to your knees’ – from a poem by ‘Fancy-Girl’

Recalibration

Posted on by Olaf

There are certain big events in life that can set us back on our heels, bring us down to our knees, make us reconsider the direction of our lives or call for a complete reset. Here are a few – broken relationship, loss, accident, redundancy or retirement.  When we embark on a new relationship or obtain a new job, adjustments and calculations need to be made to the allocation of limited time, effort and finances.  A similar process happens with these ‘life turning points’.  We may need to rethink our goals, abandoning some that seem out of date, revising others or setting ourselves new aspirations. Machines and instruments need careful initial calibration as well as occasional recalibration.  Bodies and minds can sometimes need this too.  Crises don’t only come in midlife.  What was the last big event that caused you to have a recalibration and how are you doing since?  Clouds are continually forming and reforming with the changing meteorological conditions. There is even such a thing as ‘Recalibration of Neural Networks for Point Cloud Analysis’ used in research to help with the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease! What shape are your clouds and can you spot any recalibration going on?

  • ‘Sometimes in order for change to be made in a positive fashion, we must force ourselves to look unblinkingly at painful realities and re-evaluate’ – Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman

Build My Church

Posted on by Olaf

These words are very well known by many but are a mystery to most!  Who is the ‘My’? What does it mean to ‘build’? How can anyone be sure what ‘church’ means these days? If you were a church-goer when you were young, are you still?  The fact is that many have stopped ‘going’ to church, the church is ageing, it is divided into many denominations and has suffered many indignations. There’s a lot that can happen to make a person give up on church as you can probably testify.  Is it still an ‘institution’ recognised and respected today? If not, why not and what is its future?  So many questions, but current statistics reveal much decline in traditional churches although there are various expressions of church bucking the trend in some areas. The pace of secularisation in Europe seems unrelenting with far fewer claiming a Christian identity.  And yet, it was the Lord Jesus speaking to his original 12 disciples who said: ‘I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it’- Matthew 16:18.  Eras of history have shown great advances despite the many setbacks.  Wikipedia states that c.2.5 billion people are Christian which is c.30% of the world’s population.  It does beg the question as to what it means to be a Christian and to be part of Jesus’ Church.

  •  ‘A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints’ – Pauline Phillips
  • ‘Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile’ – Billy Sunday

Living Patterns

Posted on by Olaf

Without realising it, we base our lives on patterns. Patterns of language, of behaviour, of sight, sound and sensation become the building blocks for all our subsequent filtering, learning and thinking.  Latvian-born Isaiah Berlin was a British social and political theorist, philosopher and historian of ideas – what a guy!  Here’s his big insight to consider: “To understand is to perceive patterns”.  Does this stop you in your tracks and make you consider life or whizz over your head like a squawking seagull?! Some people will persevere to see the hidden shapes in ‘magic eye’ pictures but others soon give up and miss out. If you look around, there are indeed patterns everywhere around us. Whether your lens is a microscope, telescope or an audioscope, you will find patterns in atoms, in galaxies and sound waves. Every flower has multiple patterns beyond those obvious in the flower and petals – yet there are recognisable species within every genus. There have been many forward leaps in knowledge as scientists have found and analysed patterns.

  • ‘In short, no pattern is an isolated entity. Each pattern can exist in the world only to the extent that is supported by other patterns: the larger patterns in which it is embedded, the patterns of the same size that surround it, and the smaller patterns which are embedded in it’ – Christopher Alexander

Victory Over Defeat

Posted on by Olaf

Do you live in the shadows or in the sun?  If you take a few minutes to consider the highs and lows of your life so far, how do you think it adds up? We all want to live on ‘victory hilltop’ but often find ourselves in the ‘valley of defeat’.  This can be related to achievements, finances, relationships, moral decisions, faith and our walk with God.  Rather than being a steady progression, for many Christians life seems more like a game  of ‘Snakes and Ladders’ – one minute riding high and the next crashing down a spiral of disappointment when apparent success has given way to abject failure.  This woodland walk is beset with pitfalls from unseen hazards in the shadows but there is a better path heading towards the light.  How to get on the path where gains outweigh losses and victory triumphs over defeat?

  • ‘The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile’ – Plato
  • ‘Every moment of resistance to temptation is a victory’ – Frederick William Faber

One Life, Live It!

Posted on by Olaf

There are many who will tell you how to live your life but who’s right?  The ‘global wellness market’ is said to be valued at over $4.75 trillion and growing at more than 6% a year.  It is a big business with therapists and ‘experts’ galore waiting to take people’s money and time to deal with their insecurities, hopes and dreams.  Entertainment channels massage our desires and advertisers prey on our egos as we fall victim to the exploitation of others.  Often the young want to be older whilst  the old want to be younger; the employed want to retire, the retired wish they still had purpose in work; those in the shade want sun, those in the sun want shade.  What about you now?  Do you long to be beside the sea for a long relaxing holiday that drifts into retirement or are you already living the life you dream of?

‘If I knew yesterday what I know today, where would I be tomorrow?
I won't let my soul slide away, I'd do whatever it takes
'Cause this time's only borrowed
I got one life, one life, one life and I'm gonna live it
I got one life, one life, one life and I'm gonna live it right’ – James Morrison

Facing Hard News

Posted on by Olaf

Think back to the last time you had some tough news and consider how it affected you.  How did you take it?  We can adopt various coping strategies consciously or unconsciously – glib denial, rejection with anger or accepting it with faith.  People talk about ‘taking it on the chin’, but does that mean with or without trusting God? Can you think of someone you know who has accepted bad news well?  How about being told that you were like a mighty tree that blessed many people but that you were going to be cut down to a mere stump, bound with iron and bronze?  Not a pleasant thing to be told but this is what happened to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon 605-562 BC.  None of us likes being ‘cut down to size’ let alone the idea of our recovery being prevented for seven years but it was the precursor to great things for the man who is famed for the ‘hanging gardens of Babylon’. You can read about this in Daniel 4. Perhaps you are facing hard news now – could this be a ‘tree stump moment’?

  • ‘Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine’ – Jack Ma

Only JESUS

Posted on by Olaf

Human diversity has never been more celebrated than it is today.  Yet regardless of culture, race, language, chromosomes and physical characteristics, every human has other aspects that lead to uniqueness within our kind. Experiences, upbringing, hobbies, attitudes, personalities, abilities and tastes to name but a few. However, what we all have in common is that we are part of the human race – each the same yet different.  Seeds from this dandelion will result in clones – often regarded as a weed, this little flower has medicinal properties, can be eaten or drunk like sweet coffee and goes through stages of resembling the sun, the moon and stars!  Whilst the scientific name is Taraxacum meaning bitter herb, the popular name comes from the French ‘dent de lion’ as the root resembles the tooth of a lion. Each dandelion and every human is one of its kind – only Jesus is ‘THE one of a kind’, truly Divine.

  • ‘Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else’ – Margaret Mead

What do you see?

Posted on by Olaf

It is widely accepted that each of us sees the world through a particular lens, either one that may distort or correct vision.  Types of lens might be economic, social, technological, political or cultural but they are forged from our experience of life.  Your lens may help you see clearly or it may add in bias and prejudice.  Much is said these days about diversity, discrimination and equality – how does that sit with you? Are you filtering what you see through the same lenses you’ve always had or has your world view been challenged and undergone change?  The default human condition is to mix with those who reinforce one’s own world view, be that secular or spiritual, but there is another way to see things that is truly better.

  •  ‘We see the world through the lens of all our experiences; that is a fundamental part of the human condition’ – Madeleine M Kunin
  • ‘Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera’ – Yousuf Karsh

New C4L Booster

Posted on by Olaf

Check out the latest encouragement from C4L Boosters: “You may well know this bird is an Oyster Catcher and be familiar with its beautiful burbling sound but none of us can share its unique perspective as it skims low across the sea. What is your unique perspective in life at present? “ Read more at: https://connect4life.org.uk/c4l-boosters/336-perspective