Uncontrollable and Windswept

Next week the children return to school after their summer break.  There is nervous anticipation as they enter a new school year and some begin the main school for the first time.  Parents are making sure that they have everything ready.  Occasionally there is some last minute shopping to do.  So it was with the young mother and her son who were on their way into town.  She thought that everything was in hand and she had been well organised buying the new uniform at the beginning of the holidays with the idea that once she had purchased what she needed, any left over cash could be spent on days out.  Just a few days ago she decided to try everything on once more just to make sure all was ok.  To her amazement, the trousers were now too short for her son.  She knew he had had a sudden spurt of growth but hadn't realised that he had grown that much.  So she had to go and buy some more trousers.  Ah, a lesson that all parents learn - you can't organize your child's growth or control their height.  You can give them healthy food and make sure they eat and drink all the required nutrients of a balanced diet in order to be healthy but you cannot control or organize just how that will actually work out in reality.  Some have sudden bursts of growth while others just steadily get bigger.


This past week the weather hasn't been very nice, reaching temperatures more like winter some days.  In the south west we have had quite a lot of rain and wind so I was looking forward on Thursday to what I had thought, according to forecasts, was going to be a bit brighter and I would be able to get out into the garden to do some weeding and tidying up.  Weather wise it was another day of disappointment.  In the morning I had gone to my sister's for a coffee and chat as I normally do once a week but on the way home, the sky was getting darker and the clouds looked threatening.  There was the odd spot of rain on the bus window and so my good intentions for the garden would have to wait for another day.  The experts are able to forecast the weather and their accuracy is getting better with all their modern gadgetry.  Although they can keep us informed as to what will probably happen, they cannot control or organize the weather.


And so it is with life. Some things just cannot be organised or controlled, no matter how we might prepare or think we have life sorted.  Sadly some people think that you can actually organize an outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God.  The idea is that through prayer, hard work and good organisational skills, souls will be won for God's kingdom.  We can plan and have projects and get people through the door into the building but that doesn't necessarily mean that they have come to a personal friendship with the Almighty.  Often those who 'organize' a revival find that within a couple of years, things have pretty much gone back to the way they were before all their efforts.  We humans have a tendency to think of this firm called 'The Kingdom of Heaven' whose CEO is this huge personality called God.  Some in the planning department think up projects and activities and then go and present the plans before the CEO (God) and seek his approval to put them into action. I have heard leaders come up with a 5 year plan for their congregation and claim that within so many years there will be so many in the congregation and so many outreach projects.  It didn't happen - because you can't organize God!   



It's actually the other way around.  We need to ask God what are his plans and seek his help in living them out.  We can do our best, be very active and committed, participate etc etc but accept that we must let God be God and do things his way.  We talk of the 'wind of his spirit and just like the wind in real life, we cannot control or organize it according to our self-made plans.  We just have to go with whatever comes.  The secret of a good relationship with him is to be totally accepting of whatever he is doing and be ready to go along with the moving of his spirit, wherever that might take us.  Here's to being wind-swept. 

What Sense!

I was on the bus going into town to do some shopping.  Many of the usual faces that have a similar weekly shopping routine were also on the same bus.  Some were deep in conversation while others sat in silence in the world of their own thoughts.  The bus slowed as it got near to the roundabout and lined up behind a couple of cars waiting its turn to navigate around the roundabout.  Suddenly my eye caught something moving just to the right and in front of the bus.  It was a squirrel scampering across the road, missing any moving vehicles with such agility before jumping up into a tree on the other side of the road.  It was so quick I almost missed it.  I don't think anyone else actually saw it, except I reckon the bus driver must have noticed.  Its speed and agility were quite outstanding.  I thought of other creatures known for their speed - the cheetah, the fastest land animal that can run up to 75 miles an hour.  However, the peregrine falcon is the fastest member of the animal kingdom being able to travel over 200 miles per hour.  Wow, we would need to travel by car in order to compete with a cheetah and the peregrine is twice as fast as an express train.  We still claim that humanity is the superior species!


Scientists are beginning to learn the secrets of many species of creatures.  Have you ever tried to swat a fly without success?  That's because the fly sees in slow motion so our quick action with the swatter appears slow to the fly giving it enough time to escape before the swatter reaches the place where it has been.  Some creatures, like the North American caribou, see in ultra violet light while others see in infra red, allowing them to see things that we have great difficulty making out.  There is a moth that can smell a future mate from up to 7 miles away while rats and moles smell in stereo, helping to locate food.  Other creatures can hear sound inaudible to the human ear.  Some dog owners use a special high frequency whistle to attract the attention  of their pet - something they can hear but we humans can't.  Other animals hear and use very low frequency sounds.  There are many such instances of heightened senses in the animal world that are impossible for humans.  When I think of the wonders of the natural world,  it makes me aware of my limitations as a human being, in speed, sight, smell and hearing.  Humanity is just beginning to tap into this wealth of knowledge and using it for good as in ultra sound scans and infra red cameras and binoculars that enable you to see in the dark.

The sad thing is that most of the people (if not all) on the bus that morning were totally engrossed in their own world of thought and conversation and quite unaware of life that was going on around them.  I felt that I had just had a glimpse for a few seconds into a kind of parallel universe where life was lived without our being aware of it.  When we consider the incredible variety and abilities in the natural world that is all around us, how can we not marvel at our wonderful Creator?  What a Wonderful World!  Indeed!!!  I know that many live very busy lives and aren't as fortunate as I am in having the time to just be, observe and think.  But I guarantee that if you can possibly make time, you will greatly enrich your life by doing so.  Our God is a great big God and there is a whole great big world outside of the bubble I call my life.  So much to see and so much to learn.  Up until now I have only mentioned animal forms of life but the whole of creation has so much to teach us if we would stop, look, listen and learn.

Lord, remind me to make time to just be in your creation and be aware of what you want to teach me.

Holiday

This post is a little later than usual as this past week my son Diego and I have been away on the Isle of Wight.  We got back after 9 pm last night because of a delay on the ferry crossing.  This morning has been about sorting out cases, washing and shopping for those fresh essentials that don't go in the fridge or freezer.

We have never been to the Isle of Wight before and I have often thought about going but never made it until now.  We had a lovely few days being driven around by our very helpful and good-natured South West Coaches driver.  Now I no longer drive we look for alternative ways to have days out and holidays and found the coach company very good.  It's nice for someone else to do the driving.  It means that I can enjoy the passing countryside as well as being less tired and stressed by traffic.  

I took a few ebooks with me with the intention of spending some time reading and thinking but that didn't happen.  Instead I enjoyed the conversation of people I hadn't met before and was able to soak up all the new experiences and what was going on around me.  We visited some very interesting places and saw some historic sites and some new innovations .  I didn't go looking for some deep meaning or mini-sermon in situations.  God is everywhere but we don't need to go looking for some spiritual lesson.  I worshipped and sensed God's presence just by simply enjoying the things I saw and living fully in the moment of what was happening.  

So this week I just want to share some photos from those few days away.

Osborne House - the summer retreat of royalty

excellent indoor show of fountains 'dancing' to music

The model village - this is where we had a drink in the real Griffin Hotel
but discovered it was the most expensive in the town!

the model village at Godshill

the model village

Diego in the model village

in the botanical gardens

in the botanical gardens

in the botanical gardens

me beside the fountain in the botanical gardens

the steam train that took us on an hour's journey along the country track 

Shanklin old town

Shanklin old town

tea rooms in Shanklin old town where we had a very nice cream tea
with apple and ginger scones - very yummie!

Roots

This week has seen the return of a TV programme that I really enjoy watching - 'Who Do You Think You Are?  For those who don't know, it traces the ancestry of celebrities and uncovers some very interesting and sometimes unusual and hitherto unknown facts.  There are always surprises and often tears as the stories unfold about their forbears.  Sometimes the celebrities begin to understand just why they are, feel and do as they do as they clarify some mystery from the past.  A couple of years ago I decided to trace my ancestors on both sides of the family, right back to the 1700s.  I remember as a child that two of my uncles had a shoe repair shop in our local town and I used to love to go and watch them mend the shoes and breathe in the smell of fresh leather.  I was told that the shop originally belonged to my paternal grandfather but looking further into the family history I discovered that there had been bootmakers in the family since the early 1800s, the business having been handed down from father to son over several generations.  The roots of the shoemaking business lay way back in the roots of our family history.

When I am weeding in the garden, I prefer to dig the weeds up by the roots in order to get rid of them instead of spraying them with chemicals all the time.  Occasionally though that is not so easy, on the paths and the front drive where you can't really dig them up.  The alternative is to get some weedkiller and spray them and let the chemicals do their work.  The best ones of course are the ones that you spray on the leaves of the weed and the chemicals go to work reaching right down to the roots underneath the ground.  Otherwise the weed seems to die but then comes back again as the roots go on feeding the plant.  To be effective, you have to get to the roots.

A close relative of mine has recently been in hospital and undergone quite a big operation.  She had been in a great deal of pain for a long time, months becoming years.  She has taken pain relief to relieve the symptoms until eventually the pain was becoming so bad she was sent to see a specialist at the hospital.  Various tests and scans were done in order to look deeper and ascertain the real cause of the problem.  Eventually the day came and she went to the hospital, a bit nervous but really having reached the point of just wanting the pain to go away.  After a time of recuperation she is now well on the mend but more importantly is without the constant pain that she had to put up with for so long before.  Once the specialist was able to get to the root of her problem, then the situation could be dealt with effectively.

The trouble I find in life is that too often we concentrate all our efforts on the symptoms that a problem produces.  A few decades ago, people weren't so eager to visit a psychiatrist or counselor to talk through problems in case they were thought by others to be a little deranged.  In fact such professionals were sometimes considered a bit suspect and often referred to in a rather derisory way as 'shrinks'.  Nowadays we understand that they saw the importance of going back in order to dig deep and find the root cause of a problem.  This often turned out to be not a physical problem at all but some hurt, fear or sense of inadequacy or exclusion or maybe loneliness, things that are hidden so deeply inside that others are not aware of itheir existence.  We think that we are sorting out a problem when the real problem is something quite different, hidden and not obvious until we delve deeper.

I feel that so many problems in the world, on both an individual and group level, whether that be family, friends, tribes or nations, could be solved if only we really addressed the root of the problem.  We waste so much time and effort treating and reacting to the symptoms when the real problem is still there often festering underneath so that the problem we think we have dealt with crops up again and again.  So often we ask the wrong questions!  There is no point in doctoring and treating the hurt and pain if we don't deal with the root cause of that pain and hurt.  Jesus knew that very well when he told the crippled man that his sins were forgiven.  He then told him to get and walk.  He knew that the man was concerned that his physical limitations were because of some sin.  He needed to know that God had dealt with that problem.  People are hurting and in pain and we waste time on superficial symptoms instead of really dealing with their root point of need and giving them the help they're silently crying out for.  Let's not waste time looking at the outside, the symptoms, the appearance of a situation but go to the roots and see where the help is really needed.
  

Tunnel Vision

I've been thinking all this week about tunnels.  Not sure why unless it's because they have been mentioned on the news.  But I've been thinking about them not in the sense that the news has been referring to them - as somewhere to hide people and ammunition.  I have been thinking more of tunnels we encounter on journeys and what they symbolize.  Yesterday I read a blog that talked about a woman who referred to her recurring depression as a tunnel.  She felt that it was like being in a dark tunnel and she couldn't see the way out of it until she decided to go to a counselor.  The dark tunnel of depression is something that many people struggle to cope with in their lives.


But my mind was more on the idea of tunnel vision.  It is a perfect description of that particular sight problem.  People can only see what is in front of them while all around is unclear and a bit blurred.  They are unable to see to the sides and need to turn their heads to bring something at the side into their line of sight.  I remember as a child travelling on a train through a tunnel and straining to see the light at the end of it, knowing that that small dot of white so far away was the point we were heading towards and then we would be able to see everything clearly again.  While you're in the tunnel, you cannot see what's outside of it.  Your vision in limited.  All you can see is the light straight ahead.  You are unable to see anything on either side so as far as you are concerned, straight ahead is the only possible way - it's all you can see.


Once you're out of the tunnel you become aware that there is a whole big world going on outside the tunnel.  Other people are also travelling in the same direction but by roads that run alongside the railway track.  You might think that your way is quicker and more sure but you miss a lot of what is going on around because your vision is totally centred on the light at the end of the tunnel.  I have said this before but it's what has been nagging in my head all week - we need to accept that there is more than one way to travel.  Ours is NOT the only mode of transport in life's journey.  Many are headed in the same direction with the same ultimate goal in mind but choose to travel a different way having varying encounters on the way.  That doesn't mean they won't get there.  It just means that they're not sharing our carriage with us just as others may choose not to share their road vehicle.  Just because in the tunnel, looking straight ahead they cannot be seen on the adjacent road, that doesn't mean they don't exist and that they're not travelling to the same destination.

We have always maintained that our way is the right way and therefore the only way.  God is the destination but he is also everywhere and in all things.  Whichever way we travel in life, let's not be affected by tunnel vision thinking that what we see is the only way.  It isn't!  This may seem contradictory to all that we may have thought or believed.  I like to think of it not so much as a contradiction but rather a paradox or as Richard Rohr puts it: 

Paradox is the ability to live with contradictions without making them mutually exclusive, realizing they can be both/and instead of either/or.