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My Daily Thought
18 May 2012
Walking the dog this past week it is amazing to see the growth in the fields that the recent rain has brought on, and now the wheat field is , to use an 'unagricultural' term Macy height. By this I mean when the dog runs through the field she is invisible amongst the crop and cannot see where she is going. Every now and again she jumps up on her hind legs to get her bearings and check out where I am , usually just before she runs off in the opposite direction.
I on the other hand can see her. From my great height I can see the path she makes through the field and the direction she is running in , and, when she seems to be going in the wrong direction I give a blow on the whistle which she can heed or ignore ,usually the latter.It struck me that our lives are not much different, we sometimes blindly make our way through without really knowing where we are going or seeing what is ahead, and thank goodness we have a God who walk with us keeping an eye on our frantic activity and giving us direction which, like my dog, we can either listen to or ignore.
'The Lord is my shepherd, " I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths "
for his name’s sake.' Psalm 23 :1-3
I on the other hand can see her. From my great height I can see the path she makes through the field and the direction she is running in , and, when she seems to be going in the wrong direction I give a blow on the whistle which she can heed or ignore ,usually the latter.It struck me that our lives are not much different, we sometimes blindly make our way through without really knowing where we are going or seeing what is ahead, and thank goodness we have a God who walk with us keeping an eye on our frantic activity and giving us direction which, like my dog, we can either listen to or ignore.
'The Lord is my shepherd, " I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths "
for his name’s sake.' Psalm 23 :1-3
16 May 2012
Someone told me recently that at work on the end of texts was the message 'Nike', it took a while to work out what it was doing there but gradually they realised it was another way of saying 'Just do it'
That phrase can mean all sorts of things and the more I thought about it the more it said. It can mean, stop procrastinating and just get on with it , or stop worrying about how much needs done and how we are going to make it happen and just begin , or it can be a way of fighting the demons of our own lack of confidence and fear of failure. This morning I was reading again about the parable of the sower who scattered his seed in the hope that some at least would fall on good soil, he didn't stop to work out the percentage yield, the best way for maximum return, or panic in case the whole lot blew away, he just went out there and scattered the seed.
Maybe we spend too much time thinking ...'Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” Mark 4:8
That phrase can mean all sorts of things and the more I thought about it the more it said. It can mean, stop procrastinating and just get on with it , or stop worrying about how much needs done and how we are going to make it happen and just begin , or it can be a way of fighting the demons of our own lack of confidence and fear of failure. This morning I was reading again about the parable of the sower who scattered his seed in the hope that some at least would fall on good soil, he didn't stop to work out the percentage yield, the best way for maximum return, or panic in case the whole lot blew away, he just went out there and scattered the seed.
Maybe we spend too much time thinking ...'Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” Mark 4:8
15 May 2012
Over the past few weeks I have been working with some of my primary school pupils on Time. It seemed straightforward enough until I tried to teach it and then I began to realise how confusing it can be.For instance, why do we say quarter to nine but write 9:45? If it is 12 midday is that am or pm and why? Why do some people use the 24 hour clock and others don't ? And lastly why is we say we will be there at the back of 4 and that could be anytime between 4 and 4:30?
I have been so used to using it that I never think how complicated it is and as I began to try and see things from my pupil's point of view I realised they may be seeing the whole thing completely diferently.
It did make me think about how we communicate the gospel, we live with an understanding of the gospel and its teachings and sometimes forget how confusing , and strange it can appear to those who do not believe . Philip translated and explained for the Etheopian and it is a challenge to consider how we might do the same.
By the way there is one thing everyone agrees about time- that there is never enough of it, hence the reason I have not been writing since the weekend.
I have been so used to using it that I never think how complicated it is and as I began to try and see things from my pupil's point of view I realised they may be seeing the whole thing completely diferently.
It did make me think about how we communicate the gospel, we live with an understanding of the gospel and its teachings and sometimes forget how confusing , and strange it can appear to those who do not believe . Philip translated and explained for the Etheopian and it is a challenge to consider how we might do the same.
By the way there is one thing everyone agrees about time- that there is never enough of it, hence the reason I have not been writing since the weekend.
“Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” Acts 8 :30-31