Making Virtue Virtuous Again…
It would be unnecessary to say that it is good to be good if it weren’t that we are living in such strange times. After all, the world has been so impacted by the message of Jesus that for many centuries we have not questioned the wisdom of his parable of the Good Samaritan. Who is your neighbour and what is the right thing to do? This parable has provided a direct answer. Your neighbour is anyone who needs your help, and you should provide it, even if that person is not part of your in-group and it costs you something. It has been a moral compass adopted by Christians, people of other...
Read MoreDesign, Discipline and Delight: The D’s that Drive Difference
You’ve probably heard that discipline is one of the most accurate predictors of long term success. And it is – especially if it is the resilient kind of discipline that accepts that life has its disappointments and lows, and that not everything runs to plan. Having the resilience and discipline to persevere during those times is crucial, and without them people give up too easily, and then wonder why their longed for dream does not materialise. How do we get this kind of discipline? Opinions vary. Many of them are of the “grit your teeth and stick it out” variety....
Read MoreBecause you are born looking like your parents, but die looking like your decisions…
This week’s blog looks at a throw away comment I heard somewhere I no longer remember, but the words made an impression and I jotted them down. The speaker (or was it a preacher? I’m not sure) was stressing the importance of taking responsibility for our life and using the agency at our disposal to build the life we most want. And then he rattled out the words “because you are born looking like your parents, but die looking like your decisions.” The argumentative part of me immediately wanted to swing into action. Many babies don’t look remotely like their...
Read MoreExile: As Event and as Emotion
My home church is working through a preaching series on the big themes of Scripture, and one of the slightly less common themes chosen is that of “Exile” – which I get to preach on. It’s a fascinating topic. I’m planning to talk on two kinds of exile in the Bible. The first is the historic exile from around 586-536BCE after the collapse of the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the captivity in Babylon. The second is harder to pin down, but no less real. It is a sense of being in exile, that nagging feeling that you are being excluded or that you don’t really...
Read MoreThey also serve: Appreciating the extraordinary ordinary…
A slightly different post this week, and why not? Most of my writing flows from what I’ve been thinking about, and this week it has been around the work that goes into making anything happen, and the number of people whose fingerprints turn up on any successful event. Most commonly I work with professionals – well educated people who are expert in their area and are used to being acknowledged and appreciated for the work they do. But more recently I’ve spent more time with those whose skills are sometimes taken for granted, and who have to get by on a lower wage –...
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