Can't stop...

This really is me right now.

(My tendonitis-afflicted forearms are getting better. But I still shouldn't be typing. So no entry sorry!)

Ouch

It's too embarrassing to say I have a knitting injury, so the physiotherapist says I can call it an 'overuse injury'. Basically I have tennis elbow (even though I haven't picked up a tennis racket in years) and it's extremely painful.

So I'm taking a little break from my blog, as I've been told to be careful to not aggravate the tendons in my poor, sore arm. Typing, mouse movements and general computer work are all bad for it.

Anyone like to finish a child's earflap beanie for me? I can't bear to see it sit there only half-knitted over winter.

Bob the builder

His name's not Bob, but my dad is pretty clever at making stuff. He and mum came to visit today, with Pop and my big brother. Dad's only condition on coming was that "I have to do a job for you."

I suggested he make a small clothes rack for the children's dress-up clothes on. It took an hour and a half, with an extra trip back to the hardware shop because of a faulty tool, and this was the amazing result!

Thanks Dad!

(As usual, Mum cleaned the kitchen, Pop bought the lunch, and my brother was a generally useful body. Thank you!)

Today...

... could be the first day of our new homeschooling venture.

My daughter came home from the end of Term 1 with big plans. "I've got to catch up on my library book reading Mum."

We've got some fun things lined up for the holidays, including a snake show and a glow worm walk, plus a few horse riding sessions and seeing some friends.

When school goes back, she's officially having two weeks 'holiday'. If she's miserable and hates being home and wants to be back at school after that time, I'm pretty sure we'll work it out (she's very expressive and has no qualms telling us what she's thinking) and she can go back to school. If she's still happy, we'll officially unenrol her for a term and see how we all feel by the end.

I'm excited. And this book I ordered on the subject arrived on the doorstep today - good timing!

Spiritual steps forward... and back

I read a moving and thought-provoking article (link here) on spiritual transformation the other day. It included excerpts from a four hour conversation between Larry Crabb, Dallas Willard and a guy I've never heard of called John Ortberg , all about how true transformation and change deep in our character - heart - soul - whatever comes about in the Christian life.

Their insights were fantastic and I felt so spiritual after reading it, and keen to put a lot of things into practice. I was quite convicted of a lot of selfishness, anger and judgmentalism as well, and was very ready for God to change me.

Too bad then, that I managed to lose it and be completely grumpy with everyone around me for the next half day.

Unfortunately I wasn't very surprised. This is all part of a regular pattern. Whenever I've been interested in real change and growth and have taken steps to pursue it, I've been appalled at just how horrible I end up being later on.

Is it a case of 'for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction' and I'm still trying to change in my own strength? Or is it just the inevitable challenge from the other side?

I wonder if this is the case for most Christians? We read, get inspired, and then get deflated because we end up being even more hopeless than we thought we were. It's enough to make you think that real spiritual change here and now is a vain hope and we should just get on with being polite and reasonable to each other, and wait for heaven. It's easier to run another program at church than to put yourself out there and wait for God to do his internal work on your heart.

Trouble is, I'm just not satisfied with that answer. If Christianity is true and Paul was not exaggerating, I'm convinced that God wants us to be more and more 'conformed to his image', each day, in body, emotions, desires, hopes, dreams, language, actions.

I'm committed to pursuing this further and putting up with and confessing the rubbish that comes out of me in the meantime.

changing my mind

I have to revise my opinion of Three Dollars. (See two posts previous.) It has grown on me and I am really quite fond of the characters now. Apologies to the author for the denigrations! However, I still think it took a long time to get into it, and I'm still not sure how to get a handle on what it really is about.

I have to revise my knitting habits too. I've been knitting madly and now have RSI down my left arm when I do. Rats.

Life is messy - I'm trying to get over it

I subscribed to this nice little email service from 'the daily groove', dispensing free parenting advice (link below). According to this particular one, I'm becoming a 'crunchy' parent because I am learning to cope ok with the messy bits.


"In man's quest to conquer nature, our culture has developed an unhealthy aversion to the natural messiness of life.

Heaven forbid you should eat an apple that isn't nice and round and free of bug bites. Those get made into applesauce so we never have to see their messiness!

And if our high-tech, Star Trek fantasies were real, we could avoid the messiness of birth and simply "beam" babies out of the womb -- without a drop of blood in sight.

Even if you're a "crunchy" parent who's not afraid of nature's messiness, there may be other kinds of messes you abhor, like the messy ways children learn, explore, and process emotions. Or the messy way *you* grow through parenthood.

Today, whenever you feel bothered about anything, ask yourself, "What 'messiness' am I resisting?" Are you not allowing your *own* process to be messy?

Well, get over it! Life IS messy. :-)

Let life's messes remind you how good it is to be ALIVE!"

www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove

Books I'm reading right now

Renovation of the heart in Daily Practice
Dallas Willard & Jan Johnson

It's gives a short devotional thought about the nature of the spiritual life and then provides some 'experiments' you can choose to do that day. Today I read how 'loving' is different from 'acting loving'. I did one of their exercises and imagined Jesus doing the loving action of blessing the children. I imagined his face as he did it and the effect it had on those children. It was comforting and renewing.

Three Cups of Tea
Greg Mortenson and David Oliver

Tells the story of one man's passion and vision for building schools (and then vocational centres, infrastructure and clinics) in the remotest villages of Northern Pakistan. The descriptions of the mountainscape brings back the incredible scenery and grandeur we experienced on our family holidays and I have a few giggles at his accounts of the frustrations of getting things done in Pakistan. A worthy story though, especially if you're interested in the area. Greg Mortenson was an MK from Tanzania. I wouldn't call him Christian now, but it's interesting discussion material about his approach to Islam, and the evangelism potential of what he's doing.

Three Dollars
Elliot Perlman

Don't like this. It's a novel, but I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to be about (apart from one man's fleeting glimpses of his childhood love 'Amanda' throughout his life.) It has won lots of awards, but it doesn't grab me. I'm reading it for Book Club, and perhaps am finding a small amount of rebellion coming out of me because of my obligation to it. The words I would use to describe it are: pretentious, convoluted, self-indulgent.