From Postsecret…
Food for thought…
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Category Archives: life
An election first
I’ll admit that I’ve never been much into politics. Which was partly ignorance and partly apathy. But recently I’ve realised how important this stuff is, especially for Christians (I know I’m a little slow) and so I’m trying my best, with lots of help from others, to get informed and interested.
So today I voted – hopefully it was a relatively informed vote (baby steps right? ;) ). And for the first time ever I voted below the line on my Senate ballot!
A side note – I’ve been disappointed with the fact that the funding of Mental Health care seems to be bit of a peripheral issue in the election hype. I’d love to see this change and for our government to take this seriously. So I’m looking forward to writing to my House of Reps member (once I know who it is) to make sure they know the electorate of Lindsay cares about this issue!
Don’t know who to vote for??
Over on The Box Pop, Steve is doing a great little series on voting & Jesus. It’s very helpful if, like me, you know this is important & want to vote wisely but don’t really know where to start.
Read it here.
Refugee Mythbusting
What’s wrong with the fashion industry??
Here’s at least some of the answers to that question.
An excellent article by Melinda Tankard Reist. But what is particularly ridiculous is what’s happening in the comments. Pay attention to ‘Good Charlotte’ (AKA Charlotte Dawson from Australia’s Next Top Model. Her main point seems to be that the industry is what it is and she is unwilling to take any personal responsibility or efforts to change. Problem is, if everyone in the industry thinks that who will change it?
Bonhoeffer on suffering
It is infinitely easier to suffer in obedience to a human order than in the freedom of one’s own personal, responsible deed. It is infinitely easier to suffer in company than alone. It is infinitely easier to suffer publicly and with honour than out of the public eye and in disgrace. It is infinitely easier to suffer through staking one’s life than to suffer spiritually. Christ suffered in freedom, alone, out of the public eye and in disgrace, in body and spirit; and since then many Christians have suffered with him.
From Letters and Papers from Prison.
Do not resuscitate
It’s one of those things you see in TV shows all the time. I’ve lost counts of the number of times a story on Grey’s Anatomy has revolved around a DNR (do not resuscitate) signed by patient, then disputed by a loved one. How about when Issy was unconscious after surgery on her brain. Alex, her new husband pleads for the doctors to do something. Insert suspenseful 2 minutes before the chief exclaims “screw the DNR” and they save her life.
It makes for exciting TV and until this morning meant little more than that to me personally. But this morning my mum signed a DNR order for my Grandma. Strangely since then all I can think about is every TV show I’ve seen when a doctor ignores a DNR and the patient miraculously survives.
This is a little different though. Firstly you may wonder why my mum signed it and not my Grandma herself. Grandma lives in the dementia ward of a nursing home. She has Alzheimer’s disease. Mum has power of attorney so this is just one among many tough decisions she has to make for her mum.
I think she’s doing the right thing. If something happens and Grandma is in a situation that requires resuscitating, even if doctors successfully revive her, she’s still going to have Alzheimer’s. She still won’t know who any of us are. She still won’t remember how to talk. She’ll still need someone to feed her. And bath her. They can revive her a hundred times over but she’s not Grandma anymore and she won’t ever be again. She won’t ever have it good again in this life. But I know where she’s going when she dies and she will have it great then!
I love her and I miss her so much. There’s never a day I don’t pray for her. Everyday the same prayer. Jesus, please make today the day you take her home.
Want to know where you’re going when you die? Find out here.How can I long to be married without obsessing about it?
From Ask Pastor John on desiringgod.org
How can I long to be married without obsessing about it?
I suppose the dynamics of that question and its answer relate not just to marriage, but to almost any strong desire that you have, especially a desire relating to people.
So my mind broadens out from the marriage issue to ask, “Why do we obsess about anything? Why do we have overweening preoccupations with anything?”
The reason is because God and his Son don’t have the place in our hearts that they should have. The human heart is a God-shaped vacuum—Pascal said that—and it’s designed for God to fill. And if we have small views of God, and inadequate perceptions of his greatness and his glory and his love for us and his sufficiency for us, then there will be big cavernous places in our souls. And they will be churning out these desires that are just huge and controlling, whether it’s a spouse or sexual things or money or praise of man or revenge.
A lot of people are just consumed. They can’t seem to shake it. And I think the answer there is not so much, “Fight, fight, fight! Stop doing that! Stop doing that!” but rather, “Devote yourself to knowing and loving God. Immerse yourself in the Word.”
So when it comes to desiring a spouse you admit, “Of course, I’d like to be married. And Lord, would you work that? Would you do that?” And then you rest in him. Delight yourself in the Lord. Get all of your desires focused on him, and then those desires will be managed in such a way that in due season God will satisfy them. That’s what we’re doing for our Fighter Verse this week. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).
We were talking about that verse at our staff meeting the other day, in relation to marriage. And I forget who said it, but someone said that the problem is that we treat “Delight yourself in the Lord” like a tool. Like, “OK, I’ve done that. Why am I not married yet?” As though “Delight yourself in the Lord” is a quick little turn of the key, and you get what you want.
It isn’t like that. Delighting yourself in the Lord is an all-consuming, day-by-day quest to bring all of our desires into that one great desire, so that he does satisfy.
So you walk into a group of people, and your mindset should be, “Lord, I’m just going to be there for others, like you’ve been there for me. I’m not going to look at every person as a candidate for doing for me what my cavernous needs require right now. You’ve met those needs. I’m going to be there for others. And you do what you want. I’ll trust you.”
So the answer is to get our orientation off of our needs and onto the needs of others, and that’s only possible if God fills up that vacuum. Which means we should really devote ourselves to knowing him and being content in him.
Audio & video here.
“What can I do to love you?”
Tonight I sat at dinner chatting to 2 of my dear Christian sisters, watching each of them fight back tears talking about the lovely, non-Christian men pursuing relationships with them. As they were talking about the things they find the hardest about the situation, I realised there are 2 things that make the loneliness they’re feeling worse –
- Their non-Christian friends simply don’t get it – they don’t understand why a woman would turn down a guy based on something they equate with a hobby
- (As much as I HATE the us/them divide) their married friends don’t get it either – maybe it’s because they have never experienced being in your 30’s and single but it seems like most married people have no comprehension of how intense that loneliness is. Some of the most insensitive and ridiculous comments I’ve heard have come from married Christian friends.
Harsh, I know but I’m so frustrated. As Christians surely we should be trying harder. Because it’s not simply a matter of whether of not you can sympathise with someone, it’s about trying to work out how to love them despite being unable to sympathise. Married friends – when was the last time you had a conversation with a single christian friend about their struggle with singleness? And who initiated it? If you’re not sure how to be helpful to them I recommend this question – ‘what can I do to help you?’. You could also substitute the word ‘help’ for ‘support’ or ‘love’ – but be prepared to follow through.
Anyway, I was thankful tonight that I’m single, so I could love my sisters. Please pray for them.
Adam Hills on women’s magazines
Love your work Adam!
a girl who speaks 