There are some paintings, writings and people in life that kick-start fresh thinking. In what they express, you can see a richness that may challenge and enhance your own understanding. Have a read of this to stimulate your thinking on how you interact with the world.
So much is made of the carbon footprint that we reputedly leave behind us. Some people have changed their diets moving away from meat, have decided to use more sustainable energy sources and have become more determined to have a ‘recycling lifestyle’. Others give it little thought as the idea of responsibility towards future generations is far from them. Where are you on the spectrum and how have things shifted in your thinking? Turn it on its head for a moment and think about the footprint that another has made in your life – perhaps a parent, a friend or a teacher. What impact has their footprint had in your life, for good or bad? Take another look at your own footprint in the lives of those around you.
To a fisherman, a cobbler and a boxer, this would be true! It matters to a child but not to God. Does it matter to you? Most people’s desire is for more and more, bigger and bigger, faster and faster, stronger and stronger. Entering the world with nothing, many forget that we will take nothing material with us. It was the foolish man who tore down his barns to build bigger ones so he could enjoy life, for that very night was his last! The house, the car, the savings pot and every precious item collected over a lifetime will be left behind. Is it not then ironic that so much effort goes into gathering when all of it stays earth-bound until it also rots and decays? The mantra for the modern self is, ‘I must increase, you must decrease’! Yet John the Baptist who lived on the very minimum said to Jesus, ‘I must decrease, you must increase’! Each candle casts its light no matter its size.
It is a curious thing that plants can heal but they can also kill! Basil can cure itches, Sage is good to gargle for sort throats and Mint can be helpful for upset tummies. No wonder then that you will find these in many gardens. Other plants such as Mistletoe, Poinsettia and Aconitum (known as Monksfoot or Wolf’s Bane) can be fatal. They can look so pretty but are less welcome guests in gardens. A weed is defined as a plant in the wrong place – does your garden have any?! Why is it that plants which grow so easily are often unwanted – Bind Weed, Knotweed and Ground Elder? It just takes a tiny root from these plants to spread into a thick mattress that strangles – a bit like bitterness! It’s a root that is very hard to get out and is also very destructive.
Should these two words be so closely associated with each other let alone with donkeys? Which one of these pair looks well-named ‘Gentle’ and which one ‘Humble’?! Surely ‘Jeremiah’ and ‘Hezekiah’ would be more fitting names! Does society nowadays recognise and respect humility as an attribute – what is humility anyway? The same question could be asked of ‘gentleness’. Can you be gentle without being humble and vice versa? Why are these two things important in a Christian and is it possible to be both? So many questions need an answer to make sense of it all and these come in the person of Christ:
‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey’ – Matthew 21:5
If ‘character’ is who you are and what you do when no one is looking, then D L Moody is right: ‘Character is what you are in the dark’. What is ‘character’? What is good or bad? What is your character? Who is interested anyway?
Supposing you were asked to give a full character reference for someone, what would you include? What if you had to give a genuine character reference for yourself? Here’s a dictionary definition of ‘character’: ‘the total quality of a person’s behaviour, as revealed in his or her habits of thought and expression, actions and personal philosophy of life’.
