Kennettworld

Friday, April 29, 2005

Thee's and Thou's...

In conversation this week, someone was talking to me about the effects of losing the Second Person Singular (!) from the English Language. For those who had ( like me) to check this, the Second Person Singular goes back to all those French verbs I had to learn at school - you know, "I am, You are, He/She is, We are, You are, They are" kind of stuff. In English, we use the word "You" for both the Second person Singular AND the Second Person Plural, and sometimes this can get confusing.

Yet in a number of languages, the Second person singular has two forms - one for formal use, and the other for more familiar use. For example, in Welsh, "You" (meaning You singular) can be either "Chi" (rhymes with the word "tea",) which is formal, or "Ti"(pronounced as "tea"), which is familiar. You would never dream of using the more familiar "Ti", unless you were talking to someone in your immediate family, or a very, very close friend.

People are also quick to distance themselves from actions which might be blamed on them - for example, they use the corporate form of "The Company believes..." or "It is the policy of....", rather than "I think..." or "I believe..." , or even the ridiculous "One thinks that..."

And why did this seem relevant this week? Well, we often think that anyone who uses the language of "Thee" and "Thou" when it comes to talking to God is really old-fashioned and archaic. Well, actually, in the language of King James, when the Authorised Bible was written, "Thee" and "Thou" were actually the familiar form of the Second Person Singular. To address God as "Thee" was to say "I belong to your family, and we are as close as it is possible to get"

Puts a new spin for me on the wonderful Hymn ( Redemption Hymnal No; 524!) by W.R Featherstone;

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine,
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now!

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy Brow
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now!

I'll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath,
And say, should the death-dew lie cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus,'tis now!

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now!

Pat's Thought for the Day;
To say "I love You" to God can sometimes seem very easy in a throwaway society. How about telling Him today "Father, I love Thee"?

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Dropping off the edge.....

No, I haven't dropped off the edge of the world and not mentioned it to anyone... just been a bit manically busy the last few weeks. Not getting to see many of you in church for a few weeks, either, as I'll be manning one of the Chunky Furniture Stands at Craft and Garden Shows in Kent and Herts.

However, things are going well on most fronts. Had my first major check up at Diabetic clinic this week, and they are really pleased with progress. Everything that should be going down is going down (weight, blood sugar levels and blood pressure), and confidence, motivation and intenisty levels on gym machines are all up!!

Also I've now had all the feedback on my draft re-submission for accreditation, and that was a bit of a mixed blessing. I've had very helpful input from 3 people, and one difficult input from the 4th. However, all of them are valid, and I think the final person I spoke to has actually pulled the whole thing together in my head for me. I'm aiming to start compiling all of it this weekend.

Started me thinking, though - it is so human and natural to want change to happen quickly. We usually don't want things to change much, but if they have to, let's get it over and done with ASAP. But diamonds are created over long periods of time - the more precious something is, the longer it takes to make it. We are so impatient with ourselves, and with the changes God makes in our lives, but sometimes things have to be formed slowly in us, so that they will last and maintain. Anyone can bodge something up which looks OK for a short time, but it takes skill and effort to make something that will last a lifetime.

Pat's Thought for the Day
God's plans for you will last into eternity - so give Him space to use your time on earth to build the right foundations for His work in you. It will develop into a unique, priceless treasure - literally a "piece made by the Master - a masterpiece"

Saturday, April 16, 2005

God protects...

Our thoughts and prayers are with my brother-in-law and his children, who had a car accident today, when someone drove at speed into the back of them, spinning the car across a traffic light junction into a stationary car on the other side of the road.

We praise God for His protection, as things could have been much worse than the whiplash injuries he has sustained.

We would value your prayers for them all, especially the children, in how they react to this

Thank you

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Ragamuffin gospel

Just started reading "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning. Had heard about from a number of folk, so thought I ought to get my own copy.

On the first page it says; "The institutionlized church seems more concerned with wounding the healers than healing the wounded"

What an amazing quote - have been meditating on it all day....

Life under scrutiny...

Feeling a litlle bit lilke a goldfish at the moment - that my life is being watched carefully, especially by me. It sometimes seems like my life is governed by a series of numbers - what the date is, times of work sessions, blood sugar levels (down to 6.4), weight loss (26 lbs lost in exactly 2 months) weighing every portion I eat.....

I also spent some time yesterday with one of the people who is reading through my re-submission for accreditation, and whilst her comments were very encouraging and extremely constructive, it still felt like I was sitting with a teacher going over homework! I then realised that I was allowing such feelings of the fear of scrutiny make me very nervous and self-conscious.

But there is One who watches over us with joy, with grace, with understanding, with compassion, and with security

He doesn't need sleep, and is fully committed to ensuring that we have all we need.

Pat's Thought for the Day:
"He will not let your foot slip — He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you — the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm — He will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore.
Psalm 121:3-8

Monday, April 11, 2005

God provides...

Just a quick update on the re-submission for my accreditation. In the space of a week, God has placed in my path not one but three people in a prime position to give me specific help and advice. I have now re-worked the two sections that needed to be done, and posted these off to these three wonderful people for impressions, comments and suggestions.

I'll keep you posted.

However, I did not know how tense I was, until I realised that I'd spent all day on this - at one point I spent 5 solid hours with books and my PC before printing off the new draft, with no break! No wonder I'm a little weary tonight. I'd value your prayers

Pat's Thought for the Day:
Let's keep Neil Cooper, Ethanie Hall and Pauline Sweeting in our special prayers this week, folks. They're all expecting test results, and need the Peace of Jesus

Sunday, April 10, 2005

And the Galaxy goes to....

Sarah Bray! My new car is now **** You Need Heaven!! ( needless to say, in an open blog, I won't reveal the whole Reg Number)

Many thanks to all those who joined in the fun of helping me remember my new registration number, and also to those who gave me quite a laugh with some unprintable suggestions!!

The fear of failure...

I shared something with the folk in church this morning about the fear of failure.

Without sharing the whole thing (which I haven't transcribed), the gist of it was that people often spend most of their adult lives fearful of failure. And it's not so much that we fear actually failing - it's that we're terrified of being SEEN to fail. It is that whole connection with people seeing us doing something wrong, and feeling so exposed and vulnerable. For some, this sparks from early childhood, where cruel families, playmates or teachers feel that a way to bullly, or discipline, is to show someone up publicly.

Trouble is, we then take this over into adulthood, and so have to devise strategies to cope with the crippling effect of this fear. Sometimes, we don't finish things, because then someone else may have to make comments on the finished task. More often, we don't start things - guaranteed to avoid failure. Or if neither of these work, we sabotage the task partway through, so that other things, people, or circumstances shoulder some of the heavy responsibility, and that the exposure can be shared, and hopefully minimised or mis-directed.

This is then how we also approach God. In a well-intentioned desire to please Him, we end up fearful of getting it wrong - maybe doubting that we have heard God correctly; convinced that God chose the wrong person to ask; sure that even if God did choose correctly, that we are bound to mess things up, and that ultimately, people will finally find out that we are a fraud and expose us publicly to untold humiliation.

The TRUTH is that one of the reasons Jesus was killed so publicly, amidst ridicule and humiliation, was that God, having done it to Jesus, will never have to do that to us. This is the essence of a substitutionary death - Jesus has been exposed, so that we don't have to be. Secondly, Romans 8 assures us that God has fully accepted us, and does not reject us. We are now sons (and daughters) of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. He is not about to disinherit us; rather, He intends that we should live fully in the promises of the inheritance we now have.

This is not to say that in the world, we will never be vulnerable - I wish that this were so. But we can approach such things from the standpoint of a foundation relationship that knows that we are totally accepted by God, and that ultimately, this is the One whose opinion is the only one that will last for eternity.


As I was meditating on these words through the first half of this morning's service, I had many doubts as to whether or not I should say it at all. I wondered if people might imagine that because I have recently failed in part of my accreditation, that I was somehow trying to make sense of it all through this word. (I rarely get asked "how" I know how to give a word. I guess I have my own assumptions as to what people might think about the process, if they wonder at all. ) But in the end, I had to believe that God is Sovereign, and if He chooses to use someone very ordinary to say something which makes a difference to just one person, then of course, I need to be obedient to that word. (Maybe one day I'll get the chance to talk through in more detail about this astonishing process. )

One final thought: this word was, I believe, intensely personal for people, and I honestly did not expect anyone to come up to me and say that it had helped. I believed that God would do a very private work with someone, and that was fine with me. In fact, three people did talk to me about it afterwards, and it did make a difference.

Pat's Thought for the Day:
In what ways does the fear of failure impact your walk with God? What might happen if this were not the case?

Friday, April 01, 2005

Rejection....

As part of my ongong training, I have applied to become an Accredited Counsellor with a national awarding UK body. It involved months of compiling data, and a lot of typing of reports, case studies and so on. The process is costly (in cash as well as time), but is increasingly necessary, as it is important for people who claim to be Counsellors to be able to verify this. Surprisingly, currently (in the UK) it is perfectly possible to call yourself a Counsellor, and set up in private practise, without actually completing any training whatsoever. However, there are moves afoot for all Counsellors to become accredited and nationally recognized, and the "drive" is to do this before Government legislation forces this upon us.

Anyway, after three months of waiting for a reply, I got a rejection letter yesterday. I have the option to re-submit two sections of the work (at additional costs), appeal against the decision (again, at extra cost, and no guarantee of success), or to wait a while, and re-apply all over again (this time, with about three times the cost of a re-submission)

Needless to say, I have run a whole gamut of emotions over this in the last 48 hours, from despair to anger, from pointlessness to revenge, and back again. My Supervisor today was great, and very wise, but he was as surprised as I was by the whole thing.

But it started me thinking about rejection, and fear.

It is a huge subject, which I will refrain from attempting to do justice to, here. However, rejection can be crippling, especially when it takes you by surprise. Doubly hard when you are rejected by faceless individuals, who have a lot of clout over your career. But I am learning that bad things happen to all sorts of people, including me. I have no monopoly on good times, nor the right to demand them all the time.

What I do have is a loving Father who trusts me enough to try and start handing this over to Him, instead of having a tantrum and demanding "Why me?"

What I do have is an incredibly supportive family, who believe in me.

And what I do have is a second chance.

I could tell these people precisely what to do with their re-submission - I certainly felt like this last night. I wanted to get out of this business, because it felt like too much was being asked of me. But I realized that all jobs cost, and anything else might be out of the frying pan into a fire. And besides, until God tells me to leave, clearly and unequivocably, then here is where I'm supposed to stay.

Maybe somebody somewhere wants me out of this business because it actually makes a difference if I stay.....