Challenge Literature Fellowship - AustraliaI was struck recently, when reading the children’s report cards that “good” is no longer good enough; “satisfactory” just isn’t; and “average” is almost equivalent to poor. In Australia, “ordinary” has become a slur.
No, now everything has to be “excellent” or “outstanding”, 3 out of 5 is just not acceptable. Even Uber drivers get canned if their ratings fall below 4,5, or so I’ve heard.
Continue readingChristmas is the time for presents, of giving and receiving. Children, especially, think that’s actually the definition of Christmas! We may fully expect that our spouses, family and friends give us something at this time of year. But what about other people, unexpectedly?
What if our neighbour, who we hardly know, gives us a lovely Christmas hamper? What if an acquaintance gifts us a really expensive item that they know we need? What if a perfect stranger in the supermarket queue offers us the few dollars that we are short?Continue reading
You might have seen a great series on Netflix that exposes the secrets of famous magicians.
The show first shows you how the trick is performed and then exposes the secret to how the illusion is achieved, and it has got me thinking about its parallels to life.Continue reading
Recently I watched the movie Collateral Beauty, starring Will Smith as a man dealing with the death of his young daughter. Two years have elapsed and Smith’s character Howard Inlet is still not coping very well, his marriage is over and he is reduced to writing hate mail to Time, Death and Love.
As Howard explains right at the beginning of the movie, “Now these three things connect every single human being on earth. We long for love. We wish we had more time. And we fear death.”Continue reading
“Feelings, nothing more than feelings,” goes the 1974 classic by Morris Albert, and sometimes our actions seem to be governed by nothing else.
How many marriages have ended because “I just don’t feel like I love you anymore”? How many people have committed suicide because they feel that life is not worth living? How many people are addicted to various substances because “it makes me feel so good”?
Continue readingThe other day I went to the doctor for a blood pressure script and she made me stand on the scale, worked out my BMI and told me I was fat and needed to lose weight. Needless to say my first response was “How dare she! Who does she think she is?!”
In my offence I went through a million justifications: “How could she embarrass me like that! Does she think she is telling me something I don’t already know? I’m not nearly as fat as some people! Doesn’t she know I’ve tried? Does she think I want to be like this? I was born with this body type.” etc. etc.
Continue readingDeath is only a fearful thing
If you have to face it alone
But surrender yourself to God’s infinite love
And death will be a coming home.Continue reading
Have you ever heard someone disparage the Easter story by saying, “Well how could God have done that to His Son – send Him to the cross. It’s child abuse!”? Besides the obvious fact that Jesus was a 33-year-old man by this stage, and not a child; He Himself refutes this argument when He says in John 10:18
No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.
Continue readingWe know well in advance that Easter is on the way by all the Easter eggs and hot cross buns that the shops start selling around Valentine’s Day. The swiftness with which the year marches towards the holiday may take us by surprise but the long weekend certainly doesn’t.
However, nearly two thousand years ago that first Easter morning came as a complete surprise to those who had watched Jesus arrested, tried and crucified.
Continue readingI have been watching interior design shows on Netflix recently. I’m inspired by the creativity and cleverness of those who take nice but ordinary rooms and turn them into works of art.
What I have noticed though is that, without fail, those rooms always look worse before they look better. The day before the big reveal, you couldn’t possibly imagine how it is all going to come together.
Continue reading