Transfish

I enjoy documentary programmes about wildlife and creation.  At the moment we have the new series with David Attenborough called Blue Planet 2.  We have seen 2 episodes so far and am looking forward the the third and last episode on Sunday.  In the first episode, there was amazing footage of an Asian Sheepshead Wrasse.  This particular filming was done off the coast of Northern Japan.  It first showed a male and female together.  The female is the smaller fish in the photo.  The male also has a large protrusion on the forehead.  The female was trying to get the male interested in her but when nothing happened in spite of all her efforts, she swam off and secluded herself in a hole in the coral reef.




Things started to happen with her - enzymes and hormones were released inside her body as she was changing both inside and in appearance.  The protrusion on her head became larger and when she eventually emerged from her isolation she had changed from a female fish into a male fish.  Creation has its own transgender creature!  

The account can be read on http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/blue-planet-2-transexual-fish-david-attenborough-a8026911.html
The female then went back and challenged the male and eventually took over his territory as a fully-grown alpha male.
Another strange occurrence in nature is the fact that it is the male seahorse that carries and gives birth to the young.  

For those who believe that God is the Creator of all things, then we must accept that the particular gender of creation does not seem to be important to him.  In fact in the Bible we read many, many times about eunuchs.  In Isaiah 56:4-5 God says that he accepts their worship and has a place for them within the temple.  When referring to eunuchs in Matthew 19:12, Jesus says that some are born that way and some are made that way.  'Born that way' would be what we now call Gays and 'made that way' surely refers to transgender people.  Paul teaches us that before God there is neither male nor female but we are all one before him.

So, I can't help wondering why some religious people get so obsessed with gender identity when according to creation, many parts of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus it would seem that to God it is not that important.  How we live and express our love to God is more important it would seem.  Maybe it's time to follow the teachings of Jesus and be a bit more inclusive instead of judgmental. 

Change of Perspective

This week I had to smile at a video I saw and shared on social media.  It was about a very small child holding a mobile phone.  I am guessing that the child is only about 12-18 months old as she is not able to pronounce proper words and talks throughout the video in gobbledigook. It is very humorous to watch how the small child carries out her 'conversation' using gestures that no doubt she copied from the adults in her life whom she had seen doing the same thing.  No doubt the toddler is very serious in what she is doing while others who are older find her actions quite funny and worth filming and sharing.  The video lasts just over a minute long and is worth seeing if you haven't already done so,.  Just click on the picture.

Often our age has a lot to do with how we view things.  Our perspective changes as we grow older.  As small children, we think our parents know everything about everything and tend to believe anything we are told.  As we grow into our teens, they obviously know nothing at all but when we ourselves become parents, we realise that they were right all along.  And so it is with many things in life.  How our concepts change depending on our age!

I had a stark reminder of this this week as yesterday I reached a milestone in my life when I celebrated the fact that I arrived on this planet 75 years ago.  I remember as a child thinking that people in their teens were quite grown up.  When I became a teenager, I looked with awe at those in their 20s while people in their 30s were getting on a bit.  There is a tendency to look upon someone of an older generation as really old until we actually reach that age.  I always felt that those in their 60s and 70s were really ancient but now that i'm 75, well it's not that old.  I mean people often live until they're well into their 90s and beyond.  (Forget the Bible verse that tells us that a person's life is three score years and ten!)  In my mind, I'm still young and active.  I just wish sometimes that my body would adopt the same perspective.

This has all been a bit tongue in cheek but on one last serious note, it is important to accept that someone can change their opinions about things without actually being a sort of traitor to their prior beliefs and thoughts.  It's just that as nature evolves with the seasons and the life flourishes and becomes something quite different from the early stages of existence, so we humans change our perspective on things as we live and learn.  It is the nature of things to evolve and we as part of creation continue evolving as we grow, learn and become aware of things in life.  As we journey, our view points vary.  We begin to see things we couldn't before.  And I'm still evolving and learning.  Well, we're never too old to live and learn. 

  

Growing and Evolving

It's that time of year when many young people are in transition.  They have finished school or college, completed their exams, some already knowing the results and are contemplating the future.  With each year, they have moved on, moved up into the next year at school until now when their formal education is all but finished.  And such is life.  Everything has a season.  Things change and evolve.  We change and evolve.  Our lives are not the same as they were 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago.  Sometimes the change is so gradual we don't even notice it while at other times it is a result of certain decisions we have made.

At the moment in the garden we are enjoying our strawberries.  They started off a few years ago as very small plants.  In the spring we look for the flowers appearing, a sign of what sort of harvest we might enjoy.  The more flowers should produce more fruit.  If the plants did not produce flowers then I would be tempted to dig them up and discard them. They are obviously not going to come to anything, certainly not produce the fruit that we planted them for.   We look for the first signs of those small buds and then for the flowers to open.  But on the other hand it wouldn't be natural for the plants to keep flowering all summer, even if they do look nice and the bees like them.  In creation the buds have to give way to the flower.  Then the flower must die in order to allow the fruit to grow through.


Each stage is necessary and we build on it for the next season.  That doesn't make the original stage wrong, it's just that now we need something more, something different.  A baby begins by drinking milk.  But if an adult consumed only milk, we would know that there was definitely a problem.  Just because the total milk diet was right and proper at the beginning doesn't mean that it must always be so.  An adult needs more than milk to be healthy.  The milk was right for that time but not now.  It reminds me of the words of Paul when he says to the Corinthians, 'I gave you milk not solid food, for you were not ready for it.  Indeed you are still not ready.'


I have on occasions asked why certain things are done in a particular way only to hear the reply, 'Well we've always done it that way'.  Sadly in our church system we find that we can go week after week, do the same things in the same way and nothing changes.  Change seems to be frowned upon.  Many seem stuck in a time warp, not willing to grow and evolve.  I have even heard church leaders saying things like,'We've been here before', and yet they continue to go around in circles coming back to the same thing again and again.  It's as though in our spiritual lives our growth is stunted as we continue to drink the milk and haven't progressed to solid food.  We are happy to just sit passively and be fed.  We just drink what is easily digested instead of taking in real meat to chew on.  On many occasions Jesus said that even though Moses had given them the Law, he was saying something different.  He came to fulfil the Law, in other words to move on from it.  It was right at the time but now they need to have a different way.  It's not natural or right for mature adults to have their parents keep telling them what they can and can't do or organising their lives for them.  They have the maturity to make their own choices. 


We can't go in to the next chapter if we keep on re-reading the last chapter.  The questions I need to ask myself are - am I just going round in circles in my spiritual life? what have I learnt about God that I didn't know or understand before? do I prefer to just sit and be fed or am I willing to seek food for myself? am I still holding on to and reliving past experiences or am I continually moving on? have I grown in the past year?  

Some Hope!

Some hope!  When we hear that expression used, it often means that actually there is no hope as opposed to some hope.  It's like saying 'there's no chance that will happen'.  When we look at various situations in the world where there is so much pain and poverty, we could easily be forgiven for thinking that there is no hope for some people.  All efforts seem futile, especially if we're not in some position of authority where we can actually make a difference.  Some things are just beyond our control or our sphere of influence.  The problem is that when we think that we cannot make a difference on a world scale then it's pointless to try to make a difference anywhere.  So we just retire to our own little bubble and let the world go by.  I'm not suggesting that we should become an 'activist', join demonstrations or lobby members of parliament.  Not everyone feels they want to write to someone in authority to complain and often we have the idea that they wouldn't take any notice anyway so what's the point.


You know when a child falls and hurts themselves?  How often have we looked all sorry for them and promised to make it better.  We bend down and kiss the part that hurts declaring that now it's mended, the pain's gone and the tears stop flowing.  We know of course that a kiss doesn't actually heal the physical hurt (unless scientists come up with the theory that human saliva has healing properties) but the fact that you stopped doing what you were doing, paid attention and were prepared to sympathise made the child feel much better.  They were no longer suffering on their own.  Someone had bothered that they were hurting.  Part of the problem in society is that we are so busy doing stuff that we don't have time to spend just listening and sympathising with those who hurt when really that is what they need most.  It has been said that so often in a conversation, we listen only to think of what our reply will be when sometimes we need to just listen and let the other person offload their problems, share their situation with someone.  They don't always need you to find a solution, they just want to be heard or recognised and accepted.  

Making a difference doesn't need to be in terms of some mission far away in another country (unless of course you feel that is what you need to be doing).  Neither is it necessarily about being committed or involved in some project.  So the question is 'How can I make a difference where I am?'  Do you know your neighbours?  When was the last time you stopped and had a conversation with them, not just passing the time of day?  Do you disagree with some of the things that big corporations want to inflict on us?  Have you thought about signing a petition?  The more people who show they disagree, can have some effect.  Nowadays sharing things on social media can have long reaching results and has the potential to really make a difference. Is there a community centre where you live?  Or some charity you could give some time volunteering with or doing a charity run or walk or the like?  Do you go to any activity or meeting that is not connected to your particular church or faith centre?  Do you have any friends who are not connected to the religion you follow?  The answer really is - get out of the box, move out of your bubble.  There is a world out there that is desperate for someone just to listen and maybe lend a helping hand.  It's amazing the difference you will make just by saying, 'can I help?', or 'I can do that if you want.'  There has recently been a photo that went viral of a young police constable who helped to carry the shopping bags of an old man and accompanied him to his house.  What a shame that such things go viral because they are becoming more unusual and things like that happen less frequently.  We can reverse the trend and make the positive things happen more often.  

I read the other day words by the Dalai Lama from his Little Book of Wisdom entitled 'For the Good of All':

Even if only a few individuals try to create mental peace and happiness within themselves and act responsibly and kindheartedly towards others, they will have a positive influence in their community.

We tend to think that things work by trickling down from the top towards those at the bottom when actually it works the other way round.  When those on the bottom, the ordinary, everyday, move and are noticed making a difference then it influences those in higher places of authority. I finish with this video I saw the other day that caught my attention.  It is a very good lesson in that even the smallest can make a difference to the big picture.

You don't need to understand the science behind it in order for it to have an effect.  Never consider that what you do won't make a difference.  It can.  You will.  Be the answer.

Change Course Of Action

The other day traveling home on the bus, we reached one of the main roundabouts in town.On the way around there were four cars that had stopped.  Apparently one car had changed lanes suddenly and bumped into another car causing a literal knock-on effect with the cars that followed.  Hence four cars all blocking the roundabout causing mayhem with the traffic.There didn't seem to be anyone hurt but a few irate drivers getting out of their vehicles to protest and look at the damage and take down insurance details.  No doubt for some it will mean a trip to the mechanic at the garage to sort out any problems that might have been caused and maybe a little paint job and the cars will look like new again.


I remember when I was a driver, how every year I would take the car to my friend at his garage in order for him to sort out any problems in order to get it through its MOT.  Wear and tear generally means that there was something to be done in order to get the car up to proper working order and efficiency.  The thing is as with most things, we can make do and mend for a while but there comes a time when we can't really fix the problems any more and things need to be replaced.  There is a time for more drastic action to be taken, when continuing with the same thing doesn't work any more.


This week I had my annual check up at the optician's.  I go every year.  A bit like an optical MOT.  I know that my eyes have gradually been getting worse over the past number of years because of cataracts.  That's partly the reason why I don't drive anymore.  There were all the usual procedures - shining a bright light and looking into my eyes or rather right through my eyes, how far down the board can you read?, can you see more clearly with this lens than with that lens etc etc etc.  The verdict eventually, after getting a second opinion from a more senior optician, was that it was not worth giving me glasses with new lenses as really I had reached the point that the best option was to have eye surgery to remove the cataracts that were causing the bad eyesight.  



There are occasions when surgery would seem a rather daunting prospect but in this case it was what I was hoping for.  There comes a time when trying to make the best of a situation becomes tiresome.  We just want a solution.  We want it sorted once and for all.  And after a number of years of having a change of prescription for my spectacles and having some improvement for a few months before it eventually got worse ... again...  it was kind of a relief to know that now at last there was going to be a solution.  How often do we just plod on in life, doing the same thing, sometimes reviving things a bit and then keep going when maybe it's time for a more drastic solution?  How often do we wonder, 'What's the point?  Why do I keep on doing this, going there, supporting that?  Nothing really changes.  Still the same old thing.when I yearn for more.  If things just aren't working any more then maybe it's time for something different.  Be brave, it'll be worth it.
   

Things Are Different

Sitting behind me on the bus the other day were two men having a discussion about how they gave up the habit of smoking.  One said that he had tried various types - pipe, rolling his own and the usual cigarette.  He had smoked since being a very young teenager but just decided one day that he wasn't going to smoke any more - and he hasn't.  The other gentleman had also smoked for many years but gave up because of health reasons.  The conversation went on to discuss their surprise that now neither of them liked being around people who were smoking.  They could even smell on their clothes if they had just smoked a cigarette.  The mere thought of smoking now just churned them up.  Their sense of smell and taste had improved beyond expectation and generally they felt better in their health with more energy and less coughs and wheezing.  Strange how the environment they thrived in had now become something they avoided whenever possible.  Their ideas about smoking had changed their outlook almost to the complete opposite way of thinking.

Just the other day I received an email from a friend explaining just how people should treat a dog for the blind that is in working mode.  Normally if a friend is out with his or her dog and we meet up, the immediate reaction is to greet the friend, sometimes with a hug or handshake, and also to make a fuss of the dog.  But in the case of a dog accompanying a blind person, you should never get hold of the person's hand or arm in case the dog reacts in defense of his owner.  A dog for the blind also has special times when he is given fuss and attention and that is not when he is working.  Then his full attention is on the directions of his owner.  Different situations need different responses.

Looking back over my life, although I have never smoked, I can agree with the two men who see things differently now.  How I have changed my thinking on many issues over the years!  Life experiences have taught me many lessons to the point that some things I see in a different way from how I used to see them.  I like to think that this has made me a better person, more tolerant and accepting.  There is the old saying about not criticizing someone unless we have walked in the other person's shoes.  Although the two gentlemen preferred now not to smoke, they fully understood those who still do and how difficult some find it to relinquish the habit.  They have been there and understand but now see things differently.  

Again as with the working dog, there are situations when what works with one doesn't work with another.  In life there is no one size fits all solution.  Situations are different and people are different.  We need not only to empathize with others but see them as unique and different.  Many religious people seem to think that obeying the rules, the 'do's and don'ts' is how you become affiliated to God.  There is no set formula, no specially worded prayer that saves.  Each must come to God as we are and he deals with us as we need.  That is different for everyone.  Some might find a church building inspiring where they want to worship while for others the silence and beauty of a walk in the country is where they meet and talk with God.  There was a time when I considered that part of being a Christian is going to a place of worship but now I know that anywhere can be a place of worship and that's how I now prefer to live.  What works for one does not necessarily work for someone else.  

Different people, different situations, different ways of thinking but God is one and loves all equally and is happy to meet with us anywhere, anytime and in any circumstance in which we find ourselves.  

Transformers

Turbo snail

I was looking for a Christmas gift for the small son of a nephew of mine.  There is so much to choose from!  I eventually found a book about an ordinary garden snail who dreamed of being fast and having adventures.  One day he had an accident with a vehicle on a busy road and then discovered that he had been transformed into Turbo.  He could now race along as quickly as other creatures.  The book continues describing some of the things he got up to.  

One of the many transformers

There are lots of toys that actually can be transformed into something else - transformers.  We all know the films that are so popular among children (and dare I say grown-ups also?)  They look like ordinary vehicles, a car, lorry, pick-up truck, helicopter or some other vehicle and drive around with their human friends.  Then when there is trouble they suddenly transform themselves into some life-saving, human- defender and protector and of course always save the day.  The thing about each of these examples is that there is no need for any add-on bits.  You only need what is already there to transform the toy from  an ordinary object into some super being.

Maybe as grown-ups we could take a lesson from the children.  We are always searching for something else.  We think that 'if only I had that opportunity' or 'I wish I were more like so-and-so'.  Paul, writing to the Romans says that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  He didn't advocate that we go looking for add-ons.  The children sing a song, 'And I just thank you Father for making me me'.  Again the children teach us wisdom in their simplicity.

Ainsley Harriott with chefs and contestants

It reminded me of the programme that used to be so popular on TV - Ready, Steady Cook.  The competing chefs could use basic ingredients like eggs, milk, flour, herbs and spices but for the other ingredients, they were only allowed to use what the contestants had brought them.  They had to make some interesting, tasty and innovative meal with what they had been given.  They couldn't bring any hidden extras or their favourite special ingredients, just what had been handed to them.  Sometimes they apologized saying that with this or that extra ingredient they would have made such and such but they still managed to come up with a great dish that their contestant enjoyed.  I enjoyed watching the programme as it gave me some good ideas for something different but also, I think, helped people to realize that you could do something good just with what you already had.

The other day I watched Neil Diamond on TV and was struck by a song I hadn't heard before.  It is basically a love song but I couldn't help thinking of it as a worship song and singing it to God.  It's called The Art of Love: (Try thinking of God as 'she'.)

She said, it's time to teach you the art of love.
She said we're gonna reach to the heart of love.
A place you never knew,
A place that lives somewhere inside of you.

Neil Diamond

You made me see I'd have to be
A brand new man, he lives in me.
So here in me is where I began. 

You showed the kind of lesson I can't erase.
You showed a way to get from that lonely place
To where love comes alive
And you'd be waiting there when I arrived.

The truth was clear,
Love's not a place you go to find.
It lives in here, just leave it space, give it time.
I learned that I could stumble and maybe fall.
I learned in being humble I'd have it all.
A brand new way to live,

God makes each of us the unique person we are and transforms us not by adding bits on or taking bits off but by renewing what is deep inside.  God, who is true Love, lives inside of each of us.  We don't really need to go anywhere to look for Him.  He is already within  our innermost being.  We just need to look within and be transformed into the person He wants us to be.  We are the people we have been waiting for.  All we need is to look inside ourselves and go with what the spirit deep within us is saying.  Transformers, not by adding extras and becoming different people but to be the people He made us to be with what He already has given us.  Transformed and come alive by the power of His love that is inside. .  

Autumn days and ways

Even on wet miserable days like we've had this week it's hard not to be amazed, yet again at the wonderful colours of autumn.  It's nature's way of course, of preparing for winter.  It discards all the unnecessary parts, all the extra commitment of feeding the leaves.  I remember a few years ago when I was fully committed to life within the organised church and working 3 days a week as assistant manager at the charity shop connected to the local church, I had this strange sense that I shouldn't be taking on any more commitments.  In fact, I was feeling that I should be relinquishing some of the things that I had been doing until then.  I didn't understand it but felt that God was leading me in a different direction and he wanted me to be free of commitments, free and ready to go or do whatever he wanted.  Eventually I laid everything down and felt quite naked spiritually.  All my life I had been involved in church activities and projects and yet now, here I was without anything, just me and God, no frills or attachments.  And that's the way I am now but what an enriching time I'm having.  

From autumn I learnt that even though the leaves fall,
the tree remains standing.

The other day I shared a status on Facebook that said (in Spanish)  'From autumn I learnt that even though the leaves fall the tree remains standing.'  Sometimes it's necessary to shed commitments to some things but that doesn't mean that the tree is dead.  The commitments must go but the tree remains standing firm and upright and regains strength for a new spring.  Nature evolves through the seasons and we need to evolve also.  Personally I struggle when Christians don't believe in evolution.  Looking around at creation, it all speaks of evolution.  Everything evolves all the time, changing, adapting and moving on to new phases in their lives.  For me in recent years this evolution has been to shed religiosity, busyness and commitments,  change the way I feed my soul so I can stand before God stripped of all superficial appearances and doing stuff and just be.


The other great lesson of autumn is the harvest.  Those who are gardeners (or farmers working the land) will be coming to the end of a very busy time of harvesting.  It seems that in our garden every year at this time I rethink and plan what I want to do next year.  I clear out the old and harvested and decide whether I'll do the same again next year or change things a bit.  Sometimes when things haven't turned out as I thought or expected, then I change things.  I don't do the same thing again.  It would seem a bit foolish.  If it hasn't worked then why waste time doing it again.  As Albert Einstein said, you can't go on doing the same thing again and again and expect a different result.  What a waste of time and effort.  And yet on a spiritual level we so often do just that.  We do not always have the deep satisfaction we hope to find, there is always something missing.  We go week after week, still searching and hoping.  So often we come away thinking, 'that was good but ... ...'   


As young people we were full of enthusiasm - we were going to change the world.  Yet we haven't changed our own town never mind the world.  In the big picture, nothing seems to have changed.  If a business doesn't get the result it's looking for then it changes how it does things.  Yet in 2000 years Christianity has failed to bring the world to God.  Maybe we are doing it all wrong.  Maybe we should change the way we do things or maybe look at the seed we're sowing.  After all you reap what you sow.  Maybe we should take notes from creation and shed whatever might hinder us.  We need to change, evolve and adapt.  

Making Space

It's that time of year when the nights are closing in and the temperature begins to drop a few degrees, when we need to make sure that everything is ready to withstand the winter and whatever bad weather it throws at us.  The trees are shedding their leaves and it's time to trim back, get rid of dead flowers and branches and generally tidy up and sort out in the garden.  For me, part of that preparation for winter has been to give the garden sheds and fence their annual top-up coat of paint/creosote.  This year I've been doing some sorting out in the sheds.  Oh dear, how we accumulate 'stuff', a lot of which I really don't know why it's there. It's so easy to just take something we don't really use much and shove it in the shed, out of sight, out of the way.  At the bottom of our garden we have a very old brick bunker/shelter, possibly used during the war for a family to keep safe(r) during air raids.  When we moved into the house 5 years ago, the shelter had quite a few old doors, wooden posts and other bits and pieces in it.  A couple of weeks ago a very good friend and neighbour from down the street (Pete Davies for those who know him) and his teenage son (Ben) cleared it all out for me .  So that set me off to clear out our other sheds and declutter.


It's amazing just what you find when you have a clearout.  I discovered a small garden hand fork that I had totally forgotten about.  It had been a gift from a friend when we moved in here and was part of a set with secateurs and small trowel.  It was special for me as after years of living in an upstairs flat, where on opening the door to go out, you saw stairs, now I could open the door and see a garden.  I use the secateurs and trowel but can't remember the last time I used the fork - years probably.  The truth is that some things that we think are lost are not really lost at all, they are just abandoned and forgotten underneath a pile of clutter.  When we begin to move things and get rid of all the carefully kept rubbish that we have accumulated, we can come across something we thought had gone forever but all the time it was just waiting there for us to rediscover its whereabouts.

What a difference a declutter makes!

On property programmes they often tell clients that it is best to declutter if they want to sell their homes more quickly.  The truth is that potential buyers want to see the house and not the present owner's personal clutter or family history depicted in photos.  They want to visualize how they would fit in and how they would adapt it to their own needs.  On a spiritual level. many people express that same thought when they say that they want God/Jesus but not the church.  Just like the potential house buyer, they are really not interested in all our personal religious add-ons of our particular preferred expression of faith.  Just like in the bible verse when some people approached one of the disciples saying, 'We would see Jesus'.  Really people just want God and not have to accept all the other bits that some religious people seem to think is a part of God.  They present the gospel as a package deal, you can't have God without all the extra do's and don'ts.  And frankly, they're not buying. 

Over the past few years I have had much spiritual clutter that I have got rid of in order to see God more clearly.  Some people like to live in clutter.  That's not necessarily wrong but it can often cover something that we need or have been looking for.  Much of the spiritual stuff that we accumulate is actually other peoples stuff that is not necessarily what I need or want. and I need to see God for myself, not through the eyes of someone else.  If my relationship with Him is personal as we all claim it to be, then it must be my relationship and not just a copy or cloned duplicate of how someone else tells me it should be.  And so I continue to declutter my life and rediscover treasures.  Less is more - less religious 'clutter' and more God.  We have much to consider and learn from creation and on a regular basis 'declutter' the bits that no longer serve the purpose, discard them and make way for new growth in a new season.

The Way I See It

The two people were chatting while waiting at the bus stop when suddenly the younger one, focusing on a young girl passing by said in a low voice, 'Just look at that!  What a mess!  She looks awful!'  The older woman smiled and replied, 'When anyone criticizes what you wear, you always say that people should feel free to wear what they like.  So obviously she's wearing what she likes.'  The younger one conceded with a smile, saying that she wouldn't wear it but then she has a different fashion sense.  We might think someone looks nice or not because of what they are wearing, while they might see it differently.  As the saying goes, 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'.  


On a less flippant note, my nephew's young son often likes to play at role reversal - his father/grandmother being him and he being them.  He really is rather good at remembering things that they have said or done and playing them back to them as he sees it, reliving situations and conversations.  It really is an eye-opener on just how he sees them and how he interprets what they say.  Children so often manage to encompass in their playing what sometimes goes unnoticed to us.  Things that we don't give a second thought about might come across to them as something they take notice of and remember sometimes in great detail to the point that we can wonder, 'Am I really like that? Is that how I said that?'.  Children have an innocence that penetrates through all social etiquette and niceties to reveal just how things really are, at least as they appear to them.


We all see things differently, simply because we are all different, unique.  We cherish our uniqueness yet at the same time struggle to accept another person's different approach and opinion.  Often when someone says, 'The way I see it ...' they really mean that they think the other person is wrong and they will tell them exactly how it is and what is the right way.  We can become quite intolerant of those who don't do or think as we do, thinking smugly, 'They really don't have a clue and they are just so wrong'.  There is a built-in sort of arrogance that we can't be wrong, it must be them.  Is there not just a possibility that both are right - in their own eyes?  It all depends on how you see things.  This often can depend on your circumstances, your cultural background, your emotions and feelings at a given moment.  It seems strange that restaurants. shops, the entertainment business and so on cater for our different views and tastes in food, clothing, holidays, home decor, hobbies/interests and TV viewing so why, oh why, is it so difficult for us to accept that people just might have a different spiritual opinion from us?  When it comes to God, it seems, we are always and totally right as though somehow we are in the privileged position of having a monopoly of the truth!


I remember one holiday in Scotland when we climbed up a hill through some woodland.  Every so often there was a gap in the trees and a seat where you could rest awhile and take in the scenery.  What we discovered was that we saw different things at different stopping points.  Some objects became hidden from view while others became clearer.  The overall picture was constantly changing depending on where we were on the hill.  That has always remained with me over the years as an important life lesson.  People are different, each one unique, as we so often like to say.  So why is it so hard to accept another's point of view, another way of looking at things, another angle, another's belief system or spiritual leaning?  God has an overall view while, as the apostle Paul says, we only see in part.  In the same passage, Paul says that as a child he thought and acted in a certain way but as he grew, his thoughts changed.  We are constantly changing as our view on life changes, as we experience different situations. 

So let's show a little more tolerance and acceptance of others.  At least, that's the way I see it. (Maybe someone will tell me I'm wrong!).   

New Wings

I have recently purchased a Kindle Fire HD.  The reasoning behind it is that when I go away anywhere I can carry it with me .  That way I won't need to carry the weight of books while at the same time I can still connect with friends on Facebook and blogs and check my emails.  It cannot do everything my home computer can but it is enough for what I want while not at home.  I have never had a laptop so I'm just now learning to use my index finger instead of a mouse to control what I want to do and see.  I feel a bit like ET or that strange animal called the Aye Aye with a long pointy finger!  

The thing is that I'm not one for hankering after the latest gadget or 'in' thing.  Actually things as such don't really impress me. But sometimes I have to admit that I can't do what I would like to with an older piece of equipment and so I invest in something new that will deliver.  I am not going to do away with something just because it's old.  If it still works then why not go on using it?  But there are times that a new way or a new direction is needed.  The old isn't enough any more.  Sometimes we need to get something different that is more adequate for our present needs.

On a completely different note, one of my favourite wildlife specialists is Simon King.  I follow him on Facebook and YouTube.  He lives in Somerset and has quite a few acres of land with his home called Wild Meadows where he studies, cares for and photographs the local wildlife.  He has, over the past few weeks, had various cameras in a number of different nests.  The wren chicks were the first to fledge and then the blue tits.  The kestrel is still brooding her three eggs that are about to hatch any day now.  This week all interest was on the jackdaw nest.  There were two chicks that were fast outgrowing the space that the parents had made for them.  The day they finally fledged (Thursday) they kept going near to the entrance of the nest box and chirping, then going back and settling down again.  You could hear the parents calling from outside the nest and occasionally they entered the nest and chirped.  You could almost hear them telling their children to get up and go outside.  They ventured out a little way and then back to the nest.  They did this a few times and then finally left for good.

Their lives will never be the same again.  They no longer have that comfort zone where they can go to and just settle down and wait to be handed their food and be kept warm and out of danger of enemies that would attack them.  They now have to use their wings, something they haven't really done before.  Their wings would no longer be just to snuggle down in the nest but for flying freely over the countryside.  Eventually they will need to learn to get their own food - no more ready meals regurgitated  from parents.  They will have to learn to trust their own instinct and decisions.  It reminded me of Paul (in the Bible) when he complained that some followers of Jesus were just like small children and not willing to grow up.  We are part of God's creation and that is how He has ordained creation to be.  In our Christian lives we need to fledge the nest, trust our own decisions and the spirit that God has placed in each of us, use our wings to fly by ourselves and look for food and not keep going back to the comfort of dependent spiritual living, waiting for others to feed us and keep us out of danger.  When our needs are no longer met by the old system, then we need to look at doing things in a new way, start using our wings and fly freely.  Like the rest of creation, you don't know what you're missing til you try it.  

Refocusing

It was an easy job so I thought I would just go ahead and do it myself instead of bothering my son, asking him to do it.  All I had to do was to screw a couple of hooks behind the door to hang things on.  Simple!  I had the necessary electric tool ready and charged.  I marked the spot where I had to put the screw and made a small hole to make sure it didn't slip.  As I started screwing I discovered it wouldn't go in properly.  'I don't believe this!' I murmured under my breath.  I thought it was going to be so easy.  In the end I had to go and seek the help of my son.  He took one look and said 'You've got it on the wrong setting.  You've set it for drilling not for screwing.  No wonder it won't go in.'  Two minutes later it was done - by my son.  Please don't laugh, after all I am a woman and getting on in years.  Anyway, how was I to know that the thing had different settings?  I learnt something new that day!

Last week I had my yearly check-up at the optician's.  I knew my eyesight had deteriorated somewhat.  The clue was in the fact that I struggle to read the subtitles when the news is on the television and when I need to wait for the bus to be quite close before I can see which number it is and where it's going.  So the result was no surprise.  The young man was very kind and tried various lenses until I could read the letters on the screen clearly.  He was very helpful and explained the problem - the cataracts are obviously gradually getting worse but as yet it is possible to get lenses that will help.  So later today I go back to collect my new glasses.  What joy it will be to be able to make things out more clearly and at a greater distance once again, for a while at least. 
   
Another encounter I had was with someone who had visited a dietitian to get some help with losing a bit of excess weight.  She had always considered herself to be pretty healthy and always ate what she thought was a very healthy diet.  That is until the dietitian began explaining just where she had been going wrong and how the body reacts to different types of food.  She left the appointment quite humbled and said that after all these years of doing things a certain way she was now going to have to rethink and refocus her attention on other elements of her diet that until now she had considered ok.

All in all, it has been a week of refocusing and rethinking, learning and readjusting.  Things change and we have to change with the situation at hand.  We cannot always go on doing things in the same old way just because 'we've always done it that way' as I was once informed as a questioning child.  It has been said that the Nautilus begins life in a small shell but as it grows it doesn't have enough room and so it builds another bit of shell, another new compartment and moves out of the old, once comfortable place into the new part until it becomes too big for that part.  And so it goes on until it becomes quite large.  The different segments can be clearly seen around the shell of the Nautilus.  What a lesson - we need to keep learning and growing but also often this entails moving on from where we were.  We can't always remain static or we either stunt our growth or die.  We need regular check-ups and then refocus and move on, adjusting to the new situation in hand. 

I am not in the same place spiritually as I was a few years ago.  I have learnt more and moved on.  It's not about turning our backs on the past.  The nautilus carries its past around with it.  Our past is a reminder of where we've come from and what has made us the people we now are.  We look at our past but shouldn't live in it.  It was right for us at that time and in that situation so we need to be thankful for the past and how it has led us to the point where we are today.  It should be a progression on to something new and better.  In our spiritual lives, if we find ourselves in a situation where nothing has changed, then maybe we need to ask ourselves if we need a check-up, learn something new, refocus or do things differently.  If not, then there could be a danger that we might be just going through the motions while we are actually dying on the inside.  We are never too old to learn something new, no matter how long we may have been a Christian.  It is good to re-examine what we do - maybe what we thought was ok, no longer serves us well.   God is much bigger than any human understanding and the nature of his creation is to keep evolving and moving.

Stormy Journey

In the UK we have experienced terrible storms that continue to batter the country.  The news has been full every day just about since Christmas, one storm after another and of the devastation they have caused in many places, particularly the damage that has been done in the southwest of the country.  Many have been flooded out of their homes and businesses have suffered, some losing everything.  Farmers have had to get rid of their livestock as there is no grazing land where they can put them safely.  Crops have been destroyed, trees have been uprooted ... ...  and the list of damage goes on.  Some of the most dramatic pictures that I have seen came from Dawlish on the west coast where the relentless storms and enormous high waves have corroded the cliff edge causing part of the cliff to collapse into the sea and leaving the coastal railway damaged and suspended in the air.  People living in nearby houses have had to be evacuated and put up elsewhere as their road has also been eroded by the force of nature.


The railway line is the main connection between the rest of the country and the furthest southwest tip of the country in Cornwall.  Travelling this route has now become a journey to nowhere.  Those wishing to continue their journey south have to get off the train further up the line and take a bus or some other mode of transport to continue travelling.  There are meetings being held to discuss whether it is feasible to repair the sea wall and road or whether it would make more sense to re-route the railway altogether.  This of course would bring added expense.  Those living in the houses affected by the erosion of the foundations are also contemplating whether they will be able to return to their homes or relocate while their homes are demolished.  Such tragic situations!  Drying out and a lick of paint will not be enough to save them when the foundations have proved to be inadequate.  On the east coast,  the continuous rain has caused landslides and homes have collapsed down the moving earth like a house of cards.  The term 'safe as houses' no longer can be applied to a building as being safe.  Torrential rain and fierce winds seem to make light of humanity's attempts at providing security.


On the Christian journey I have found that foundations that have served me well for many years have become inadequate.  New worship songs or some innovative activity will not solve the problem.  So I have moved out of the place I called my (spiritual) home and found new ways or expressing my faith.  When the journey I am on no longer gets me to where I want to be, then I need to change direction and take another route.  Millions of Christians worldwide have in recent years found the same to be true when the winds of the Spirit began shaking their world.  They have moved out of what had become traditional and organised religion - the 'safe' house.  The goal of oneness with God has not changed. The final destination remains the same but the journey is now taking a different route.

Adapt to survive

Talk about being adaptable!  My son has recently started a job which began with working a few hours a week - not enough to sign off from receiving Job Seekers' Allowance.  You need to work for over 16 hours a week to do that.  He enjoys the job and has been wanting to increase his hours.  His manager has also been doing his best to find him more hours as he wants to keep him in the job and not lose him if he finds something else with more hours.  Last weekend he started work at 4 am.  On Monday he was asked to go in for 5 am but on Saturday was asked to change that to 11 am.  One day he had to be there for 1 pm and another for 10 am.  This weekend his starting time is 10 am til late.  At the moment he is covering for others who are on holiday or off sick.  Hopefully it won't be too long before his working week will be sorted and take on a more settled routine so we will not be wondering what each day will bring.  So this week our sleeping and mealtime habits have certainly NOT been habitual.


Looking in the garden this week, especially after the big storm we had the other night, it is apparent that things are really changing.  For one thing part of our fence blew down!  That is going to be repaired soon (I hope).  What has changed and I can't do anything about is the lack of leaves now on the trees.  Autumn is a time when nature adapts ready for the winter.  Some things need to go in order to conserve energy for what is to come.  Trees shed their leaves and plants seem to die but all the time they are building up their reserves ready to burst out again in the Spring. 

A bearded tit

This week we have also been able to watch Autumnwatch - a favourite programme in our house.  Their theme has been migration and has followed many birds as they prepare to move further south for the winter, some having already gone.  Young birds, born only this Spring are flying, some non-stop, for thousands of miles.  After having spent most of their lives to date in the nest, life is really changing for them.  They also tagged and followed a number of foxes.  Some of their habitats have been taken over by humans and so they are having to adapt to urban living.  Other birds like the bearded tit have to adapt their eating habits as their diet changes from insects and worms to seeds and berries.  They eat small pieces of grit to help in this.


It is the very nature of creation to change and adapt according to the circumstances. My life now is not the same as my life was 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago.  But God is still relevant to my situation, now.  Life happens!  Life makes us make changes - this is how God has ordained things.  We need to adapt to changes in our lives to cope with new technology and ways of doing things.  It just seems a shame that people don't follow the natural laws of creation into their spiritual lives.  I remember when quite young and asking why things in our denomination were done in a certain way and the answer was 'We've always done it that way!'  Maybe that's a good reason to change!  When a movement fails to adapt and change then it is no longer moving. It has becomes an institution.  People who don't profess any religion, often get the impression that God is not relevant to 21st century living.  And sadly the Church as a whole has contributed in giving this impression.  Some Christian groups are proactive in changing but others are not.  Some fear that change will mean a watered down gospel or that their particular group will cease to exist and so they don't want to change.  This is unnatural in God's creation and in our daily lives.  Creation adapts in order to survive.  Nature shows us that adapting and changing may mean no longer doing things we used to do but it does mean doing things effectively for what is to be in the future.  It may seem to be a sort of dying as we let go of the old but it is a doorway to something new and better.  If God is relevant today then we need to express Him in 21st century ways and not keep Him enclosed in an old, out-of-date box.