Tales of the Talking Tiger

Recently we had our church weekend away (Getaway) and to be honest, I’m not a big fan of communal living and church camps fit neatly into this category. Yet it was a great weekend - I learnt heaps, love Jesus more, and love the people at Church by the Bridge more as a result of going along.

Have you found that there are certain things in life that you don’t particularly desire to do, or even dread doing, yet afterwards you are very glad you did? Getaway was a good example of this for me, as is reading the Bible. Sometimes I just don’t feel like reading the Bible. Yet there is not one time when I’ve read the Bible where I’ve regretted it. Perhaps I just need to get over how I’m feeling about doing something, and do it in the knowledge of how good I’ll feel as a result of doing it, not based on how I’m feeling about it beforehand.  I’m going to the dentist on Monday, and hoping this will be a similar experience!

I came across this interesting post on the blog of Joshua Harris recently (and he found it at its source - the Days to Come blog). Not being a wife or a mother, there are some things I can’t relate to here. But I thought a number of the points she makes are quite profound, particularly point 10.

Things that don’t make sense to me:

1. How having four children quadrupled the love I have for my kids instead of dividing it into four.

2. How focusing on meeting my husband’s needs results in my needs getting met.

3. Why having a lot of “me” time tends to make me more self-centered, not less.

4. Why serving other people makes me more content, not less.

5. How spending time with God usually results in me accomplishing more that day, not less.

6. Why exercising gives me more energy, and not exercising makes me more tired.

7. How submitting to God’s will brings freedom rather than confinement.

8. Why things that taste good often are not good for me.

9. Why having fewer things makes me enjoy them more–and vice versa.

10. How I can know all of these things are true and too often behave as though they are not.

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