Discovering that true survival requires a faith that defies all human reason What do you do when your absolute worst-case scenario becomes your reality? For years, Dr Shaun McCarthy lived a life of perceived invincibility, navigating demanding careers in special forces and intelligence while keeping God at a comfortable distance. He reasoned there would be […]
There is no doubt that we can sometimes feel wretched – if only we hadn’t done that thing, had that thought or said those words. It can be tough to reconcile how you’d prefer to behave with what you find yourself being tempted to do, as if there’s an inner battle. When we slip up, that’s when regret, guilt and inner condemnation pour in and wretchedness ensues as we hang our heads in shame.
Every locality has its landmarks and we all use them for navigating around our landscapes. A few like the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty are notable beyond their locality, but most only mean something to locals. When a familiar old tree is taken down or a favourite shop closes, there is a sense of loss and some disorientation. The pictured monument is probably known only to a very few readers – it is placed in heathland to mark the proximity of habitat for Wild Cranberries, the Woodlark and Nightjar. Some have creatively also used it for geocaching so if it was moved it would be confusing for dog walkers and for those searching for their next geocache answer. You will have some landmarks that mean a lot to you but little to others. Come to that, in the landscape of life, you will have people or events that are significant landmarks particularly to you. Perhaps you are a landmark for others like a cairn on a mountain walk to help them on their way.
What would life be without change? Yet not all change is progress nor is change the only constant as some believe. There are various ways to react to change – embrace and seek it; run and hide from it; deny that it’s happening. Park yourself for a year under a Horse Chestnut tree and you will not be able to escape the fact of change! Each season will come and go – even if you do not accept it, you will be unable to deny the leaves have come and gone. If you are far into denial, the falling conkers may bring you to your senses! Change in the form of the Leaf Miner Moth is now threatening the survival of these trees which can live for 300 years. So yes, for good or ill, change is part of the richness of this life but the way to face it is neither to run from it nor to seek it for mere entertainment – there needs to be a constant foundation to stand upon to come through every possible change that can come in life. If you are not already standing on that Rock, best advice is to look at the leaves changing and find it.
Fear paralyses – absolute fear paralyses absolutely. It can’t always be rationalised for it is often irrational. The face of fear has many masks but our fears must be faced if we are to be free to live a life worth living.
‘I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear’ – Nelson Mandela
‘We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light’ – Plato
So what fears are you facing? Are they long-standing fears that have dogged your life from childhood or are they the dogs that began to stalk the corridors of your adult mind?
