What a Life!

Ben Fogle in Laos

I am currently enjoying the miniseries on television with Ben Fogle - New Lives in the Wild (Mondays channel 5  at 9 pm - UK)  He visits people who have opted out of the rat race and spends a week with them discovering just why they do what they do and have decided to live where they live.  The first one in the current series was about a 31 year old former financier from London who one day decided that there was more to life than work and the financial world he lived in.  He was searching for a place where he could be happy.  He bought a one-way ticket and set out for Asia.  He eventually settled in a hand made bamboo hut on a hidden jungle island on the Mekong river, Laos.  He lives like all the other people there and is accepted as one of them. 


Another 61 year old woman from Europe has lived alone for the past 8 years (since her husband died) in a part of the remote outback in Australia caring for the wildlife surrounding her home and a herd of wild horses who come to her when she calls them.  She also was looking for something more than what money can buy.

I saw somewhere this week the words - Making a Living or Making a Life.  Sometimes they are the same thing but more often than not there is a big gap between the two phrases.  Of course we need to work in order to have the things that we need.  Most people work at ordinary jobs so they can enjoy a form of reasonable life.  There our times when our lives seem to be governed by money - paying for this or that essential. (or what we in 21st century Britain accept as essential for life).  Do I buy because I need something or because it's the latest in thing, a 'must have' in order to have some sort of acceptance in society (if that is important to us)?


The thing is that in time most people come to realise that all the stuff that money buys us may make us comfortable but often there is still a space deep down, yearning for real happiness.  The things money can buy are of this world and this life and  have to stay here when we leave this life.  We cannot take them with us.  We have to leave them behind.  So why do we do it?  Why do we work ourselves to the bone so we can have more money to buy more stuff?  If that is your dream and it really makes you happy, fair enough.  But as the Beatles used to sing, 'Can't buy me love'.  You can buy diamond rings or flashy cars or dine out to impress but they don't guarantee love.  You can't buy peace.  You can't buy a happy homelife.  You can't buy acceptance or understanding.  I'm sure you could add more to the list.  So what do we do?  We need to make a living  to a certain extent but do we need to do it at the expense of making a life with things that money can't buy?  




I am reminded of something Banksy shared on Twitter (picture right)


I think that's a good note to end on and leave us thinking about our lives and what are the important things for us.    

What Hierarchy?

Most of the young people at school have now finished their exams.  There has been quite a fuss about one particular question on a Maths paper that really puzzled the students to the extent that the whole business has become very public and mentioned in News bulletins.  The problem seems to be that it would seem that the whole future of a student depends on the exam results, which in turn often depends on pure academic ability and not so much to do with character or amount of effort put into the study.  There are those who try very hard but academically they just don't cut it.  And yet end of year exams seem to have such a bearing on their future - what sort of job they will be able to get and subsequently how much money they will earn as a result.  For some, the most important thing is to get a place in Uni and get some degree, any degree as long as they can say that they have one.  Otherwise they feel that they are left on the scrapheap of life.

Success is counted as to how far up the social ladder you are able to climb.  This is often seen in terms of the size of your house, the sort of car you drive,  where you go on holiday and how many of the latest gadgets fill your home.  It always seems sad to me that success is measured in material possessions and not how we do our job or the sort of people we are.  Are we honest, helpful, caring, accepting, including others and making them feel wanted?  How often those who reach 'the top' do so because they don't care about anyone else or who they tread on in the process of climbing up the company ladder.  Some of the most honest and caring people I have met have worked at menial jobs earning a fraction of those considered to be successful.  And very often they have been so generous in helping others.  The story of the widow's mite comes to mind.

The Winter of Discontent.

A customer once asked a cleaner in a large store where a certain item was and the cleaner replied that he didn't know as he was only the cleaner.  The customer replied that he wasn't only a cleaner as cleaners made a very important contribution to the success of the store.  After all who wants to shop in a dirty store, that is if Health and Safety don't close it down for hygiene reasons?  Some might remember some years ago when the refuse collectors went on strike and the household rubbish wasn't collected for some time.  And yet how often is someone working as a refuse collector thought of as being successful?  He or she might not own a big house but society grinds to a halt if they don't carry out their valuable work (as the above photo shows).  How often we picture a sort of triangle of hierarchy with the manual workers at the bottom and the CEO and Directors at the very top.  It is the aim of most people to gradually climb their way up to the top.  The thing is though that if those who form the basis of society are not thorough and good at their jobs, the whole triangle tumbles down like a house with crumbling foundations.  The base needs to be firm in order to build on it.  If those doing menial tasks don't do their work well then the whole company folds.  Without the cleaner there is no store manager.  There is no store.  The one earning a six figure salary depends on those on minimum wage doing a good job.  There is a problem when there aren't enough at the bottom supporting those at the top.  As the saying goes 'Too many chiefs and not enough indians'.

Jesus' teaching on hierarchy was 'the first shall be last and the last shall be first'. He, who is God was servant of all.  So, let's be honest, are we more impressed with someone who has some grandiose title or is a manager of a large company or the person who sweeps the floor and cleans the manager's office?  Hmmm!  We are all human seeking to do what we can to contribute to society and making the world a better place.  There is nothing wrong with improving ourselves and seeking to 'do better' but let's not adopt a false sense of importance.  In God's kingdom there is no hierarchy.  We are all equal in his eyes and he loves each of us equally.  And that applies equally to those in organised religion.  The most sought after speaker and the person who cleans the church toilets are thought of and loved equally by God.  We should do likewise.

Targets, Aims, the True Reason

Over a couple of days I heard 3 different viewpoints of targets and aims.  The first one was about targets at work and what could be done to raise productivity or show improvement in the personal file of an employee.  We have heard so much about targets at work.  At times I get quite angry about the whole target-driven society in which we live.  Targets create an insatiable monster that keeps telling us that our best is never enough.  It seems that no matter how much we achieve, more is expected.  In many parts of society, schools, police, nhs to name but three, targets have often become the most important aspect of the work and not the life/work balance of employees or the people such jobs are meant to protect and help.  The whole system goes off course and the targets must be met at all costs.  It is a subtle form of bullying that has invaded all levels of living.  I can understand why targets and aims are put in place, often for very good, plausible reasons but so easily the target takes over and reigns supreme over the reason for doing the job in the first place.  The result is a false sense of reality of a situation; we are made to believe one thing when the reality is something different.


The second instance was with a young man who had decided that he would help his mother in the garden.  To date he has done a lot of digging, trimming, lifting and carrying, using a lot of energy and being a great help.  Some of the things he has done just wouldn't have been done at all if it had been left to the mother's efforts alone.  She was really pleased with the way he was offering to do so much and commented that maybe his dislike of gardening was changing.  His reply was not what she had expected.  Some time before his new found willingness to help with gardening, it had been suggested to him by a medical professional that he should really do a little bit more exercise in order to lose his quite substantial surplus weight.  When it was suggested that he was beginning to like gardening, he straightened up from his work and said quite clearly that he didn't like gardening, had no real interest in growing things and that when he had lost the required weight then she probably wouldn't see much of him in the garden.  At least he knew exactly what his target was and open and honest about the true reason for his efforts.


Then the next day I read a blog where the writer was telling about a young woman at church with whom she was having quite a deep conversation about relationship with God.  She commented about having a deep love for God and how we need to keep falling in love with Him.  The young woman replied that she didn't think that she had ever found that place of love or been 'in love' with God.  The older lady was a little surprised, knowing that her friend had been part of the church since childhood and always appeared devout and active in much of what was going on in the church.  Trying to understand just why she was a Christian, the young woman's reply was 'Jesus has been about getting into Heaven, Jesus has been about getting saved, Jesus had been about getting good'.  Some would say they go for the friendship of like-minded people (except they rarely see each other or know anything about each other's home life apart from what they see or hear on a Sunday).  For some, church and the whole Christianity thing is about the benefits to be got from it, a sort of check list that helps us to reach our target - heaven.  The aim is not so much about God and a loving relationship with Him but about the end rewards if we tick all the boxes and keep up the good work until we die.  This has taken the place of a deep friendship with Father Creator.

It may be good to have targets but lets make sure that they are our servants and don't become our insatiable, ruthless masters.  Let's be honest about what our targets really are and not try to pretend they are something they are not.  And please! let's not confuse the reason for our targets with what should be our real focus and objective, whether that be at work and the reason for our work, helping others or whether it be our faith and why we call ourselves a believer.  We need to ask ourselves 'What am I really aiming for?  Why do I do what I do?'    

Repair or Replace

We continue trying to put right the things that have been damaged during the winter storms that seem relentless here in Somerset.  Last week the roofers came and mended the roof so hopefully we will no longer have any leakage when it rains.  A few of the tiles had slipped out of place and were quite easily returned and firmly fixed in their allotted spots.  Another tile was completely shattered and had to be replaced.  The engineer has also been to service the boiler and central heating system.  The boiler is a few years old but it is still working well and will be ok for another few years.  That's a relief!

Next it is the turn of the man who is coming to put up a new fence as the other one is now virtually non-existent.  (See photo)  That is of course weather permitting!  On the other side of the garden there was a panel of fencing that had been repaired again and again.  Bits had been added in order to keep it in place but the last storm was just too much and it eventually fell out altogether and is now lying on the grass leaving a great big gaping space into the neighbour's garden.  The sad thing is that as it fell it landed on top of a rather nice variegated holly bush, completely flattening it and snapping it off right from the bottom of its stem.  So I not only lost a part of the fence but also one of my plants.  I don't know if the holly bush will recover - I guess time will tell.  

I'm not one usually for just throwing things out and replacing them with new - not if I can make do and mend.  But sometimes mending is not enough.  Repairing will not do.  Some things need to be replaced.  But how we hang on to things that are no longer useful!  We seem loathe to do away with things that are familiar, even if they no longer serve their purpose.  Replacing things can bring upheaval and more work.  The old needs to be totally got rid of in order to make room for the new replacement.  We can't just nail the new fencing onto the old posts - they are part of the problem as they are no longer firm enough to hold the fence panels in place.  The whole thing including the posts needs to be removed to make room for the new fence.

There are of course life lessons to be learned here too.  How many things do I hang on to out of a sense of comfortable familiarity when I should be replacing them with something that actually serves the purpose - not just in the material things but also in the spiritual.  It can be costly to step out and replace that which no longer serves the purpose but sometimes repairing when we should be replacing can do more harm than good as I learned with my holly plant.  It can be unwise to try and hang on to things that no longer work for us.  Trying to repair and renew just doesn't give the result I need.  Instead of patching up the old, I need to replace it with something else that works for me.  We are told not to put new wine into old wineskins. (Luke 5:37)  Doing what is right for me might cost me and take a bit of courage and effort but well worth it in the end. 

Christmas - Through the Eyes of the Shepherds

Here was this group of blokes just doing what they always did.  They were the tough, outdoor type who were able to fight off wild animals that threatened their flock of sheep.  They were used to spending long hours outside in all types of weather.  They would possibly be passing the night time hours exchanging anecdotes and a few jokes, like men throughout the ages have done.  They would always be alert to any danger that might creep up on them to cause havoc among the sheep with the intention of providing a meal for some hungry wild animal.  But suddenly... ...!  I can almost hear them mutter 'What the ... ...?'  (or their Jewish equivalent) as they searched the bright light for some explanation but not sure what was going on.  

I'm sure that they didn't expect that while they were just carrying out their nightly responsibilities that God would suddenly burst in on them in that way.  To say that they were taken aback is an understatement.  But then God often does that sort of thing - surprise us when we're least expecting it.  We tend to expect God to turn up in places that are deemed to be 'holy'; at special gatherings; in big meetings; when there is the 'right kind' of worship music and groaning prayers.  Angelic visitations appear when we're in the right mood and frame of mind don't they? ... ... not at work!   

The angels gave them directions to go and find the child that had just been born.  They explained the importance of this child - the long awaited Messiah.  Who would have thought that such an important message would have been revealed to a few simple shepherds?  They were probably not very well educated and maybe didn't manage to get to the synagogue very often because of their work.  They had been raised in the Jewish faith and knew about God and their history and being the 'chosen race' but were probably not very active in their expression of their faith.  They didn't question the angels.  They went and found the baby exactly as they had been told.    They weren't all dressed up in their Sabbath best.  They were in work clothes suitable for working with animals outdoors.  They went as they were and found him in the stable with the animals, a messy, dirty, smelly place, away from where people would normally live and sleep.

They saw God in a new way, identifying Himself with them.  He didn't expect certain conditions, education or understanding of Scripture.  He came to them where they were, as they were, out there.  His incarnation was for everyone - all included, not just the religious.  And they worshipped Him, right there, in the middle of their nightly work, as they were, with no great preparation or understanding.  That is Emmanuel - God with us (all) here, now.