Cheese anyone?

I saw this photo and thought; did you meet people like this cat? Always wanting to be on the other side of that door, no matter which side they are on? They always want whatever is there on the other side, out of reach, out of grasp or out of control. It must be better working in a different place, living in an another house, driving a different car, having a different family, etc…..Whatever is behind that door, I want and I will try and get

The culture of many choices doesn’t help either, as I do the shopping, I find that there are more than 60 different types of cheese! I later learn that there are actually 500 types of cheese recognized by the International Dairy Federation. Come on, it is just CHEESE!

So sometimes we approach life and relations in the same way as shopping for the best cheese, if it is not this one, it might be another and surely with all these different varieties, I must find the one I like!  If we look at relations as consumers rather than individuals, we then want the ‘best cut’, ‘the front of the shelf’, ‘the long expiry date’ and we may also ask to ‘speak to the manager’ if we are not satisfied with the product. However, I know that the heart that God gave us was to help, love, support and befriend, rather than to consume and just consume.

I love you just the way you are ...... hmmm

You know the advice 'just be yourself' and then someone adds; 'but not too much'!

What does it mean to be 'yourself'? What if being yourself is to be grumpy, angry and vindictive? What if in being yourself, you are losing people’s love, attention and care? What then?

I guess the idea is not to pretend to be someone you are not. There are so many catch phrases at the moment promoted by all the self-help books and they go like this:

-        Discover the inner you

-        Release your potential

-        Live life as your true self

-        Understanding ‘you’

…and so many others that keep going on and on about rediscovering and reinventing ourselves.

So the question is, what happen after you discover this ‘inner you’ or after ‘reinventing yourself’? Are people suffering around you? Are they paying the price for your new discovery?

In our journeys to self-discovery, releasing our potentials, self- examinations etc, we forget sometimes that there are people around us who love us and care for us. Our quest to rediscover ourselves engulfs us in a selfish journey to focus on the self and forget all others.

In our new found love to live life as ‘ourselves’, we still need to be mindful of people’s feelings and not to hurt or offend just simply by claiming that:

                        Hey….I am being myself !

If Schespear was a blogger

A Step or A Stop?

‘Everything comes to an end’ this is a fact of life and as we were created, ‘endings’ are a reminder of our limitations and that as we had a beginning we will have an end. 

We are surrounded with ‘endings’ all the time, even the words we hear. You hear football managers talk about: ‘at the end of the day, the lads did their best’ or your teacher will say: ‘by the end of the class you need to understand this process really well’, or your friends tell you to ‘hang in there, the end is near’ when you are having a tough time.

Endings are hard, ending a relationship, a job, leaving an old house or loosing someone as their life ends. And as we move from one thing to another we struggle with how to deal with this simple fact of life and in our way to deal with endings we either glorify the person/the event/the job or make a villain out it. So after loosing a job, we only bring up the worst in the boss, how bad it all was, how nasty people were and almost making it an evil cartoon character. On the other hand, after loosing a loved one we glorify them and brush aside all the negatives and make a saint out of them. We all do that as this is the only way we can deal with difficult endings.

But there is another way; we can look at endings as a STEP and not as a STOP. We can stop forever after the end of a relationship and never move on or we can look at the experience and learn from it all (good and bad) and move on with what we leaned. We can see it as a STEP in our development and life experience and remember the good times and don't let everything stops.

How do you look at every ending surrounding you? Finishing school, ending a contract with work, finishing a charity event, ending a relationship, the end of a holiday, etc? How do you see it? A step or a stop….you decide.

How...?

To blog or not to blog...

Fancy working as a tooth brush?

Crocodiles have the largest number of teeth in the whole animal kingdom. A salt water crocodile will have some 64 teeth and they have their teeth replaced throughout their life.  For centuries this little bird - called Plovers - worked as a very dedicated dental hygienist cleaning crocodiles teeth.

This little bird does a great job and I believe through the ages, they always knew the rules of engagement with this fierce creature. In one little move, this sweet little bird could be just a snack to Mr. Crocodile. One wrong pick, or nasty nip at the gum, and this cute bird is gone. But the bird is benefiting too, and both creatures are a perfect image of a balanced creation by a mighty God.

But thinking about it, the bird is providing a great service but he is not the boss (and I am sure he knows it). I can't imagine the bird showing off to his mates or teasing the crocodiles, 'Guys, I am the best tooth brush in the whole jungle, you have to do what I say'. I can't see him bossing the crocodile round and giving him orders. But this is the not the order we see around us. I see people providing services forgetting that they are "serving" people. The doctor, the policeman, the teacher, the politician, etc , they are all providing a great service but they forget where does the power lie. The power is with those you are serving, the power is with the people, not the government, the rulers or the political system.

2011 showed us so far that people power is bigger and stronger than we ever thought. Protests all around the world this year proved that power is not just with those who are in high office, have money or arms.

It is a great job serving in a position of authority, but remember that Mr. crocodile could close his eyes, could nod off a bit, could even pretend not to care but it will always let the little bird knows if it is not happy with the service !

Join us upstairs, down here!

This is a real photo on the London Underground station in East London. I couldn’t resist taking a photo. But thinking about it, so many things take place around us with some very contradicting messages.

Listen to the parent who tells the kids off to ‘encourage’ them, to those who hurt you because they love you. Look at the army that is supposed to protect you but aims at you and kill you for the sake of what is called ‘stability’. See the government that says ‘we are on the side of the poor’ but reduce their jobs, their education and their chance of a better life. Some who declare their hate to others under the umbrella of 'show compassion to those who are different from you'. The group of 'I want to kill you to show you what is the right way to go'.

Who are we deceiving? This photo is honest, if you go ‘downstairs’ you will get the overground trains. In life we need to call things by their own names otherwise we will never change anything. If we are running around looking for ‘excuses’ to certain actions, we will never move forward. That happens in relations, in societies and across the whole world.

The photo is confusing because the words don't follow what you expect. The same in every other situation, If I say I care about you, then I my actions needs to show that. If I want to show you how wonderful my way of life is, I need to show you lovingly and not by force. If I say that I want 'stability' then declaring war is not the right way to go about it. 

So, would you like to join me 'upstairs, down here' to correct the contradictions in our lives? 

A go on the slide anyone?

Some things could be so much fun but you need to see where
it all leads.
Could be all as innocent as going on the slide (just like this little boy) but sure it will end in tears (or shredded body parts).

Things can sometimes 'slide' out of control, we cant stop it. We say the wrong thing, we make the wrong turn or decision. We stay so determined that we are right and the other is wrong and we loose it all at the end. We let things "slide" out of control and out of our hands. Relationship deteriorate for not wanting to back down when we still can and then we suffer the consequences. We say an unkind thing, we make bad comments, we sneer at a friend, we enjoy some gossip, the list is endless.
 And yet, in every situation, there is always a window where we can go back and save the relationship, the job, the situation etc. There is always a point of "return" (comes before the point of "no return"), once we pass this, then it is too late to save the situation and we have to suffer the consequences.

So ...do you know when to stop?

Montpellier .... très jolie

Spent few days in Montpellier, south of France and it is really a lovely, beautiful place to be. One of the nice things I liked very much is the grass that is so neat on the tram rails which adds a nice feeling to the roads and to the journey down the busy town. Lovely coloured trams as well to cheer everyone up throughout the day. Certainly, a place to visit again and again.

Don't get busy with the Bees.....Go after the HONEY

There are a list of "Bees" that keep people away from God:

Books (work, study worries)

Bills (money)

Blocks/birds (relationships)

Body (image,health)

Bereavement (bad experiences)

But here is my list of HONEY that we need to focus on

HONEY

Hold on to the faith

Only Jesus can save

No condemnation now on those in Christ

Encourage yourself and each other

Your life is safe in His hands

So I say, do not just stay busy with the BEEs, go after the Honey!

All I want for Christmas is ...... nothing!

As the search for the right present intensifies, there are more unusual gift ideas online to come to the rescue of those of us who are struggling. But, here is an idea that really made me smile. You know those people who say "I do not want anything for Christmas this year" and you really never sure what to get for them, here it is, their wish of "nothing". The grantee on the site (gettingpersonal.com) is that:
This gift is guaranteed to do absolutely nothing. If something happens, return for a full refund.
There is only one more thing to say, they charge you 3.95 for the gift of nothing! Genius.