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About God’s words & our words #3
Today I’m continuing a series of posts. About transitive verbs. Last January, I began daydreaming about words – a strange habit, I know. But as my mind wandered and meandered, I noticed how many transitive verbs begin with the prefix en-: verbs like ‘enter’ and ‘enjoy’, even ‘ensconce’ and ‘enkindle’. A verb-al series Later, I realised how many of these transitive verbs describe how God works in the lives of his people. This was too good a discovery to ignore! So I scoured the dictionary for more beginning with en-. Altogether, I collected thirty transitive verbs. And this is another post in the series. (You can read the first post…
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About God’s words & our words #2
Today I’m continuing a new series of posts. About transitive verbs. Last January, I began daydreaming about words – a strange habit, I know. But as my mind wandered and meandered, I noticed how many transitive verbs begin with the prefix en-: verbs like ‘enter’ and ‘enjoy’, even ‘ensconce’ and ‘enkindle’. Later, I realised how many of these transitive verbs describe how God works in the lives of his people. This was too good a discovery to ignore! So I scoured the dictionary for more beginning with en-. Altogether, I collected thirty, and this is another post in the series. (You can read the first post in the series HERE.)…
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About God’s words & our words #1
Okay, so today I’m starting a new series of posts. About transitive verbs. I know, it’s a little weird – a bit odd, a tad strange, a smidgen curious. But won’t you join me anyway? Daydreaming Last January I was daydreaming about words, as I sometimes do. In my head, I began collecting transitive verbs beginning with the prefix en-. I thought of common ones, like enter and enjoy, and less common ones, like ensconce and enkindle. For a moment, I imagined casually dropping ensconce or enkindle into my everyday conversation, but I decided I’m weird enough already. Instead, I began to write a list and scour the dictionary for…
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Assurance – confident or uncertain?
I think I am, I think I am. Am I? Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Saviour, all the day long… How do you feel when you read these words from the old hymn, Blessed Assurance? Do they make you want to rejoice and shout “Amen, sister!” or perhaps quietly sing to God in your heart, grateful for his gift of salvation? Or do these words fill you with guilt and anxiety? Confident security or elusive blessing? If your assurance…
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Family practice
This week, I joined three friends from my Bible study group to be honorary aunties to the young son of another friend from our group. She had invited us to her son’s school assembly because he was to receive a special presentation from a senior chaplain in the Royal Australian Navy. Anticipation We all knew what was going to happen. But her son didn’t, so that just added to our anticipation. Wearing full dress uniform, the senior chaplain addressed everyone gathered in the hall. He explained that this boy’s dad was also a naval chaplain and he’d been away at sea for almost five months. As he showed us photos…
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Daniel, the dentist and the TV news
Recently, I went to the dentist for a check-up. It’s not my favourite thing to do. Ever. I see dentistry as a necessary evil, probably due to some unhappy experiences in childhood, and so I usually put off any dentist visit for as long as possible. This time, the young dentist who cleaned and treated my teeth was new to me, so I was a little more anxious than usual. But his gentleness, dexterity and up-to-date equipment made it a far quicker and less uncomfortable experience than ever before. In fact, it was so much better that I’ve even booked another check-up in six months. News As I lay in…
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Of predicaments and mysteries in time
About six months ago, I shared with you my plans for this year. Back then, I planned to blog more often, preferably weekly, and to tell you more about my everyday writing life and my latest book project exploring the topic of Time. I also planned to be more active on social media, sharing work in progress and thinking out loud about life. Making progress, kinda, sorta Let’s just say that the results so far have been patchy, with short bursts of activity but not a lot of consistency. There’s a long way to go yet. Sigh. But I guess that’s what plans are for. One thing that keeps tripping me…
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What are you waiting for?
Do you find it hard to wait or do you draw on great reserves of patience? I’m not very good at waiting. I can go from calm to impatient in a few nanoseconds, especially if I’m stuck in a sea of stationary vehicles and brake lights. Especially if I have to be somewhere, pronto! Impatient & frustrated I’m probably not unusual—life in a big city can be very stressful. And yet, even when I’m not in a hurry I hate sitting in traffic as it creeps forward a few millimetres at a time. The first alternative route I see, I take. It might not save me any time at all,…
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Something honest and real #2
This is the second part of a long-form post. You can find the first part HERE. In Part One of this post, I began with an old mahogany bench and an old-style stapler—one old thing and one old-style thing. I wanted to explore what I could learn from them. I know they’re only things, but it’s what they represent and communicate that makes them so interesting. And the longer I’ve thought about them, the more I’ve discovered. Time & progress For a start, I’ve learned to appreciate each old thing for its part in the long story of human endeavour and enterprise. Each one is a marker in time, a step…
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Something honest and real #1
This is Part One of a longer post—Part Two to follow. It definitely shows signs of use, lots of use. So I sometimes wonder what the old bench would tell me, if it could actually speak. Perhaps it would tell me about the time that dent first appeared, or why this bit is grooved and that chunk is missing, or how many years it’s taken for the velvety patina to develop. It might even tell me how often it’s been polished, about the places it’s been or the people who’ve sat on it. Simple purpose And I sometimes wonder about the Indonesian craftsman who fashioned this mahogany bench, using hand…
