IMAGINE IF ….. ?

Posted on 2015-11-22 by Jeanette

What if, before your spirit was clothed in flesh in the womb of your mother, you knew another ‘place’, a place you would eventually recall with gratitude and love; a home very different to Planet Earth? A place you vaguely remember as being full of light, joy and peace.

The story goes like this. The king of this wonderful ‘place’ of course is God. Although you are tiny at the moment there in the warm confines of your mother’s womb, you are pretty ancient. Not nearly as old as God obviously as he has always been, and he created you only a few thousand millenniums ago. But all the time, up until now, you have lived a blissfully happy life and if God hadn’t given you a glimpse of the earthlings, you would have thought this was common to all beings. Even encased as you are and protected by your mother’s body it sounds as if earth is truly an awfully hectic and mad planet.

Some time back when you were sitting innocently enjoying the beauty and comfort of God and home, he quietly asked you if you would like to do something daring but very worthwhile and for everyone’s happiness. Of course you said yes. But God said he wanted you to understand a little more about the job and spend a while thinking about it so you would not later feel you had been hoodwinked into accepting the job. “That’s not necessary God, but I know you know best. What do you want me to think about?”

So God explained and opened a window so you could see down to Planet Earth and all the goings on down there. Well it was a mess – beautiful but a total shambles. The people were also beautiful but they were crunched up, scowling, cursing and all bumping and knocking each other over in a scurry to get heaven knows where. God explained that he wanted you to become the child of a certain family, typical of those you’d just seen, and that your visit down there would involve quite a lot of discomfort, with good things and bad things happening to you – all of which he explained to you in detail. You were horrified! Who in their right mind would ever want to leave the place of beauty and peace you were presently enjoying and always had, for such a horrific place and live the kind of life God was telling you about even for just a short time of 80 years or so! No thanks God. You take back your yes. It is now definitely no. God said he was in no hurry should you change your mind.

You then began to notice beings returning from Planet Earth for a while and then enthusiastically going back to earth. Though they did seem to be constantly busy you noticed as well that they had a quality about their love and service of God that was different to those of you that had not been to that dreadful place. They seemed to be so much more exuberant and all fired up with God and his plans of goodness and love! You and other heavenly beings seemed half-alive in comparison! All the Returnees spoke of how invaluable their journey on earth was and spoke of how grateful they were that God had given them the opportunity to discover a deeper level of loving and of living!

Strange!

Eventually you told God that you would go but that he must first promise to protect you and especially from forgetting him and your true home. Furthermore, he should always remind you that it is just a short stay to enable you to grow and mature as the Returnees had. But God said that would not make the journey your very own. You needed to understand far greater things than the comfort of knowing or remembering your origins. You needed to learn how to live down on earth with dignity, hope and love when the going was tough, you needed to be able to get up and try again every time something went wrong. He said you would be on a journey something like the journey of the prodigal son who left his father’s wonderful loving home and journeyed away to what he thought would be a life of freedom, with lots of money to enjoy from his inheritance and that he would be free to do exactly as he pleased. Fun, fun and more fun! But it didn’t turn out to be fun for the prodigal son, rather it was heartbreak and tears, shattered dreams and shattered lives strewn all around him. When eventually he came to his senses and realized that even his father’s hired hands were better off than he was, it was as if a switch went on in his head and he saw clearly the havoc in his life and decided there and then to return home and beg his father to forgive him for being so stupid. And of course we know the end of the story: the father ran to meet his wayward son, embraced him and welcomed him home with a glorious home-coming party – and without any recriminations.

Eventually you knew you had to go or miss out on one of the greatest opportunities and gifts in your life. It was extremely hard to leave your haven, but even harder once you got to Planet Earth. It was a wonderful place in so many, many ways with a family of wonderful people and lots of friends. Beauty was everywhere but as time went on it all became tarnished it seemed, with each day a little further from God and your real home. The downside was that it was so easy to forget the values of God and to get hooked into so many senseless activities, many harmful to yourself and others. You certainly forgot all about your origins and your father. If anything God became an afterthought when the going was tough and small memories of your real home were so fleeting, that they seemed unreal. Things you had agreed to with God that you would allow to become instruments in helping you to become fully alive to God, his love and his goodness, you began to resent and cuss and curse about. Your life had less appeal and happiness than a pig in a dirty pigsty with no food or water, with no hope in sight of anything better. Then one day – one glorious day the penny dropped and you began to understand the value of all that you had been through and realized that working with God these could become the very things that would help you to grow and mature. You did an about turn and started once again to connect with God and slow but surely you began to taste again the goodness of God, which had in fact never been apart from you, only you’d lost your sensitivity, your awareness and subsequently the joy of and desire for his presence.

In time you were reunited with your father and your original home which had now extended in fact to include Planet Earth which was bit by bit becoming like God’s kingdom in heaven. You were different though. Your love and appreciation for God and his love and his kingdom were so greatly amplified you wondered how you could ever have thought that what you experienced before Planet Earth was love!

If this imagining were true, would we be able to respond to the experiences of our lives with greater understanding and fortitude? I like to believe God took me into his confidence and gave me a pat on the back and said:

“Off you go my cherub, enjoy every moment of your trip and try to remember I love you every moment without interruption. I will keep reminding you, until you need no more reminding because it will be your unbroken experience.”

Posted in Christianity, Questions about Christianity, Reviewing my Christianity | Leave a comment

WHERE IS GOD WHEN TRAGEDY STRIKES

Posted on 2015-11-19 by Jeanette

“Where is God when tragedy strikes” has long been a difficult and seemingly answerable question.

Even the Bible doesn’t give us simple answers. God intervened when Abraham was just about to slay his precious son Isaac, but he didn’t intervene in the miseries of Job and he didn’t intervene in stopping the Roman and Jewish authorities from executing Jesus.

We can all tell of tragedies where some have been prevented and others haven’t. Our histories are full of God’s gracious “intervention” and his not so gracious “non-intervention”.

Why? Are some people more important to God, like Abraham but not Job or Jesus? Are some events planned by God and therefore can’t be stopped like Jesus needing to die to save us from hell? Are some the result of the evil intentions of others and God doesn’t interfere with our free will, even if it be a criminal raping a child?

Why are some tragedies more terrible than others like Jesus’ death over thousands of others who were crucified? Is the result the important thing and not the means or persons involved? Again the question arises why are some tragedies “justified” like Jesus, and yet others like the senseless rape of a child is not? Tell a parent that it’s because of the importance of Jesus’ death to salvation over that of their child that makes the tragedy more meaningful and therefore acceptable and we’d rightly so be called callous and unfeeling.

Does suffering a tragedy become more meaningful and acceptable when a good outcome can be seen but not when no reason is apparent? Are we required, expected to accept tragedy in the belief that God will use the occurrence for good in all those affected by it even if not in our lifetimes?

There definitely is some easing of the pain when we can see that good has come out of the calamity. When we can see that we have come to understand and learn things that would otherwise have evaded us. That sometimes it takes something personal for us to learn the lessons of life passed down to us by others but ignored. Like don’t go to war, don’t drink and drive, have safe sex, don’t murder, lie or cheat, care for one another and your sick, aged and poor, take care of your water resources, your forests, your rivers, your vegetation, etc. etc.!

If we were godlier would there be less and less disasters? And by that I mean if we lived the golden rule of doing unto others as we’d like them to do unto us could we divert so many catastrophes? If we took more responsibility for the outcome of our actions, our words, our thoughts, would we be more careful and circumspect and would things begin to be better and better? Could these things be the prayers and actions that would save us rather than leaving it to God, the gods and someone else to do what is right and good for all and our planet? Can the golden rule work if we believe it but leave it to someone else to practice?

I do believe that God does work things out for good but he needs our co-operation – be it before, during or after the event. It may not be that things begin to change for the perpetrator of the evil as that is not within our control, but it can begin with us choosing to work with God. I do believe he can transform our weeping into laughter and can use circumstances in our lives to make us sit up and change the way we are living! I believe God would far rather that we live life without all the pain and suffering we do, be it as a result of the cumulative selfishness of the ages, of our age, of ourselves or others.

We know what is the good and right thing to do, but we often just turn a blind eye until something happens that forces us to take stock of our lives. Sometimes we are shaken awake by what we read and by the experiences of others but often unfortunately it is only when something trips us up even if it is not an enormous calamity that we are prepared to look at and live our lives differently.

We may never really understand how or why tragedies happen or why they are not always prevented by God or others or ourselves, but there are a few things we can do even so. We can give the tragedy some meaning. We can see that it has made us more sensitive to the pain of others who may have suffered something similar. It can make us more wary of doing the same harm to another. It can be the impetus for us to help others avert such tragedies by giving support and help be it through a new campaign, or joining a organization already operating, or making a phone call, sending flowers or something else that would help ease another’s pain. I remember once being unable to express my sadness for a friend at the funeral of her husband, and could only embrace her. She told me later that the concern and love of that embrace gave her great comfort.

We can imagine a good outcome in the meantime! A favourite scripture of mine is that whatever we can imagine that is good and lovely will not be able to be compared with what God has planned. So image the most extravagant and glorious outcome and God will do better than that. One of my imaginings is that my deceased mother who loved horses and rode them into her 80’s, is enjoying the wonderful scenery of the various planets of the universe riding the beautiful horses of heaven. Now I thrill to think of God’s one up on mine!!

Imagine the best outcome when tragedy strikes and as sure as God is God, it will be better.

NEXT  ….. some more imaginings!

Posted in Hope for the future, Philosophical, Spiritual | Leave a comment

IS GOD VIOLENT?

Posted on 2015-11-12 by Jeanette

We need to define violent before saying yes or no to this question. Some synonyms of violent are – fierce, vehement, vicious, forceful, powerful, aggressive, brutal, cruel and sadistic. The more positive synonyms are – intense, strong and passionate.

Is God violent? Was Jesus, Gandhi, or any other godly person, violent? Were your parents, your peers, your enemies, people who held sway over you, ever aggressive, forceful or brutal towards you? How do we feel about violence against children, the aged, the ill, the weak, the defenseless, the oppressed, the prisoner, the poor? Do we think violence is permissible in certain situations or circumstances?

Throughout the ages violence has been abhorred and practiced.

Even in our scriptures and celebrated histories, violence explodes everywhere either perpetrated by “God” or the gods and their adherents; by people like us. We cloak our violence in word, thought and deed as permissible because we were provoked, or attacked without provocation, or feel impelled to do so to maintain justice, compassion, rights, cultures, inheritances, even doing so in the name of God!

For the last while I have been unable to accept that it was God’s plan that Jesus die on a cross and suffer so terribly in order that he could bear the punishment meant for us for our disobedience against God. What kind of God would impose this kind of cruelty upon a son when he has so many other options available to him, like unconditional love, grace and forgiveness? Surely this kind of human sacrifice is to be condemned even as we righteously denounce the heathens of old who sacrificed people – or animals, to appease their gods’ anger?

Even as vulnerable and imperfect people we would never contemplate let alone arrange for the gruesome death of one of our own beloved children no matter how good the cause maybe? We would rather die ourselves than impose that on our beloved child. I used to explain Jesus’ awful death planned by God to myself saying Jesus being God in human flesh was God killing himself in the first person and not really to a secondary figure. But whichever way one may choose to see this plan it is an act of violence. We believe that we are called to imitate God and maybe this act of violence has given countless generations the ‘right’ to do the same to others in the name of God for this or that righteous reason?

I believe for what it is worth that we have invented a God in our own image with values and actions like ours albeit it our best. As people that are finite, we don’t have the words or imagination to describe the infinite God or his ways. Jesus and others who have lived Godly, spirit-inspired lives, have helped us to “see” God more clearly, but even to explain their essence, motivation and inspiration is limited to our own cultural language and experience. As many people as this world has known, as many are the explanations of God and his ways.

Back to the question: Is God violent? Reading of the experiences of the Jewish people from their scriptures, I would say that from the viewpoint of the Israelite’s enemies, God was extremely violent destroying their men, women, children and life stock and taking their land. God even obliterated the Israelites if they encroached upon things sacred in an unclean state, or if they in any way defied or defiled God.

In Christian scriptures there is also violence. We have God offering up his son as a sacrifice. In the life of Jesus there is an account of Jesus being violent when he overturned the tables and even used a whip to drive the traders out of the temple. Jesus is also depicted as having had harsh words for the hypocrites, the uncompassionate, those that abused their power and influence, those that chased away children, etc. They were shown up but never brutally dispensed with. They were not set upon by his followers, frightened by them into silence or conversion to Jesus’ teachings. When Jesus was tortured and sentenced to death unjustly, he did not fight or call for protection. He turned the other cheek showing not only that he would not fight evil with evil or violence with violence but rather set an example for mankind that there are other ways of winning over evil and living more victoriously even in the face of death. But what does this say about Jesus’ heavenly Father – shouldn’t it be saying the same thing – “don’t retaliate against the unholy, the spiritually blind, the unholy, the unbeliever, the infidel” with violence and further evil? If God speaks a language other than this, what was Jesus on about, why was he preaching a different gospel to his followers to that of his Father? Is Jesus more compassionate and forgiving than God his father?

Throughout the centuries, unbelievers have been told that unless they believe in what is being taught, they will be heading for a place of excruciating pain, suffering and darkness if they don’t timeously respond to God’s gift of grace that asks nothing in return except acceptance. How much violence has been committed throughout history by God’s followers be they Israelites, Christians, Muslims or any other group? Do God-reverencing people get their orders or example from God, Jesus, and Mohamed or any other leader – to go out on their behalf and slaughter the unbeliever or infidel? Isn’t that what God did to the Canaanites’ and neighbouring tribes using the Israelites to uphold his honour. Isn’t that what he would have done to the gentiles if Jesus hadn’t died on their behalf? Do we see God’s act of grace towards Christians justifying his violence against Jesus? If the goal is reached is the method condoned? Does Jesus teach us to love our enemies and subvert God’s actions of violence? Or have we got it wrong? Wasn’t it mankind’s violence against Jesus, against the infidel, the communists, the capitalists, the children, the poor, the outcast, the refugee, the prisoner, the defiled, the untouchable – and not God’s violence?

Can a truth be truth for us but not for God? Can God perpetuate or allow terrible things to happen and then tell us we mustn’t do likewise? Can we honour and obey a God who kills his beloved son however well intentioned? What kind of example is God setting for us to emulate? Isn’t there a great big mistake in this kind of thinking, in this kind of love, in believing this is possible of a God who created such beauty in nature, in the gurgle of a baby, the love of a child, of a parent, of a grandparent for their offspring?

My mother was brought up as a Quaker by her Quaker parents. I have an old book on Quakers which tells of their peaceful ways, of their ‘non-violence’ beliefs, of their respect for the dignity of God and his people. I remember my grandfather’s lovely ‘Quaker’ nature. He never got angry with us. I remember once when we stole peanuts out of his pantry when visiting him on holiday. He just quietly walk past our bedroom that night when we were ‘asleep’ muttering loud enough for us to hear “Now I wonder how the peanut bottle got to be so empty”. Towards the end of his life he had a nasty fall on the rocks when fishing one day and landed up with a hump back. When we walked with him into the town, he would tell us to hurry on ahead, wanting to protect us from being identified with him. Thinking about violence and whether my mother ever hit any of us or even any animal, on checking with my siblings, none of us can ever remember her doing so. Though my father was an abusive man when drunk which was often as he suffered from alcoholism, and though my mother and us five kids had to flee often to get out of his way, she never reacted in violence or with evil intent. She instead continually cared for us no matter what. In her nursing career she exhibited the same quiet love and support for all who came her way.

My mother was an example to me of God’s love and how we should live in the face of violence and/or abuse. The God of violence I read of, even the violence of a hell, of due punishment we heap upon our heads, of a calamitous end-times, makes my mother far more lovable than God and a far better example! The image of God we have inherited must be wrong.

The many teachings and threats passed down through the centuries of God’s violence however it may be justified or explained, just don’t add up for me of an unconditionally loving, gracious and good God. There are scriptures to support many contrary views. I choose to believe those that speak of God having loved us even before he created us. I believe in a God who knew we would rebel against him and all the good he is and stands for but who nonetheless created us knowing that we would through the journey of life discover his ways of love, grace and forgiveness to be real for us … and equally real and true for everyone else.

It is in the knowledge of God’s unconditional love and goodness that I am able to continue to want to live so that in time I may become fully one with him in thought, word and deed. The journey may well be long and hard, but of this I am sure that he does not practice or advocate violence in any form, that he needs no protection from foe or even my own sinfulness. He loves me and draws me with cords of love and integrity.

Jesus was not a weakling. He stood firm in his belief that God’s love and goodness is towards everyone not least of all the poor, the weak, the suffering, abused or dominated. He was so convicted of God’s non-violence, non-manipulation, non-fearful, non-discriminatory, unconditional, imperative, unending love, that he chose not to oppose his death with violence but rather accept it with love and forgiveness towards any with ill will towards him.

“Father, forgive us for any violence we may bear towards another in thought, word or deed. Help us to love and forgive any who may in any way offend us or our beliefs. May we instead be like Jesus in facing our many deaths and to do so with love and dignity. May the Quaker heart of my mother and my grandfather before her also be a constant reminder to me of the spirit of Jesus I experienced in them.”

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ORIGINAL BLESSING OR ORIGINAL SIN? WHICH IS IT?

Posted on 2015-09-08 by Jeanette

Matthew Fox wrote that the promulgation of the doctrine of original sin ‘introduces an attitude of self-doubt and lack of reverence for self and one’s beauty that is thoroughly the opposite of Jewish consciousness’.

I think these words hold a great truth.

Jesus told his followers that the greatest commandment is to love God and your neighbour as yourself. If we are created in the image of God, we have an abundance of beauty and goodness to be thankful for in God, in others and in ourselves. And yet the majority of people probably live with feelings of ineptitude, dark burdens of their own ugliness’s, character flaws, personality hang-ups and short-comings, etc., etc. When we walk around in this mire of deep seated doubt and dislike it is no wonder that we don’t have the oomph to bounce back and say hang-on I’m better and bigger than all this negativity about myself. Our springboard for bouncing back is as someone put it, the reality that we are blessed with an original blessing, the blessing of having been made in the image of God; created and endowed with God’s goodness and gifts of life at our very core.  Original sin came after our creation and original blessing. It did not blot us out or expel the life of God in us. Sin or selfish living or a lack of love, however you wish to describe sin, threatens to destabilize us and cause great harm to us and others, but it cannot obliterate God’s spirit that gives us life. Without God’s spirit we would be more than dead, we’d be non-existent, ‘uncreated’. Sin harms us and will undermine our belief in God’s amazing goodness and gift of life to us and all around us.

Maybe we sometimes mistakenly attribute this ability of goodness and spirit of life to ourselves instead of to God and we build a false image of our own ‘goodness’ and aptitude into what has no foundation and when we try to respond to a challenge positively, we find we don’t have the strength or resilience we thought we possessed.  However, when we remember that all that is good comes from God and is available to us for the good of all, we are far more able to muster the ability to bounce back and carry on. We need to remember who we are in the eyes of God and take comfort and encouragement from that.

Maybe this is why we also fall into the trap of thinking we are better than others instead of as being all affiliated and donned with the same paintbrush, though just in a variety of strokes and colours. That it is thanks to God’s gifts that we are blessed and not that of ourselves. Without his essence we would not be, with his essence we celebrate together our common heritage and bond with God, whilst expressing his essence uniquely and very differently in our diverse lives.

You know how identical twins can be incredibly in tune with one another? This is the way we should be relating to one another, never mind who or where that person might be – in China or Africa, or anywhere else in the world. We are akin by virtue of God’s breath or spirit within us and not to be at one with one another in spirit and in truth, should be unthinkable, untenable, and impossible.

For Christians or people of any other faith, to not take responsibility for how we relate to and with the gift of God within us or within another person, is to shirk the life God has given us. Even to believe that all we have to do as a Christian for example, is to believe that Jesus died in our stead and then sit back and do nothing about doing with our lives what Jesus did with his.  Believing that we are now ‘saved’ and not attempting to live lives of love and goodwill towards everyone, not least of all our “enemies” and being unprepared to be killed for another person’s rights for instance, is a cop-out, an abdication of God’s inbuilt resources to become fully mature and operational as individuals of one big family.

Most parents encourage their children to believe in themselves and their abilities. “Come on you can do it. Take another step, say another word, do it again! That’s great!” We tell them that we love them, that we think they are so clever to do the things they do, that they are so kind to love and share their toys, that they are so beautiful – inwardly and outwardly, that they have grown so big and strong, that they have really done good in their various activities, studies, relationships, etc. We want them to feel good about themselves, to feel confident about themselves and their innate goodness and ability to cope in life and to lead happy lives. We know from experience how hard life can be and how often we are knocked down and how we need to constantly get up and carry on. Is it not imperative that we constantly remind ourselves and them, that everything good comes from God and how much better all our lives will be as we recognize this and constantly strive to expand and extend his gift of goodness and life in our own lives – and encourage and equip others as much as we can, to do the same in their God-given lives?

Just one example to bring home what I’m saying about our responsibility to live actively and not passively as God’s creation is when we have hurt someone. It is much easier to ask God to forgive me and to help me, than it is to go to the person myself and without reservation ask for her forgiveness and help in us working together towards a more harmonious relationship. It may be easier to ask God to forgive us than to take up Jesus’ challenge and to go and do likewise in loving and forgiving our kin and recognizing that even our enemies are our family dressed up in the dragon costumes we clothe them in!

“Lord there is never a moment I do not need air to survive.  There isn’t a moment my spirit can survive without your spirit, love and energy, whether I am aware of this or not.  Forgive me for so often being unaware of your loving presence and help.  Help me to see you in every moment of my life, in life around me and in the moments of every other person’s life.  Help me to remember my first gift from you is the best gift and is more powerful than and redeeming than any sin I may commit.”

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HOW DO WE RESPOND TO THREATS?

Posted on 2015-04-20 by Jeanette

In South Africa we have once again had Xenophobia strike our land. There are some, maybe many who are threatened by the fact that foreigners are working whereas they are not. There is I believe a high level of resentment, anger, hatred and fear in the people living in South Africa.

This is frightening. If one looks at the amount of energy poured into these emotions, negative and destructive feelings, South Africa is sitting on a time bomb. Whether we feel these things about one or many people’s race, political aspirations, religious affiliations, economic stability, wealth, status, success, happiness, education, previous advantages, attitudes and behaviours, it is like us all adding our keg of gunpowder to a bonfire that is going to do immense harm to all.

This is where we have to begin with the power of one. Each of us has our baggage and come to the problem with our own emotions so that each of us has to look at what we are feeling, why we are feeling the way we do and what we have done or not done about it, how that in turn has affected the overall picture and us personally.

We can always find scapegoats to blame, but the one thing we have control over is ourselves like nobody else has. If we don’t examine our conscientious, our emotions, the stories we tell ourselves, our motives – and look at them in the cold light of day, we will continue to add fuel to the fire.   This can be extremely hard as we are very complexed and so is the situation in South Africa and the effect history and the present has on so much of our lives.

We cannot truly deal with extraneous matters constructively if we have not dealt with ourselves. We will only make matters worse if we rush out in our confusion and pile on our contributions to the negative energy that seems to be consuming us at the moment.

As South Africans demonstrated the amazingly peaceful transition under Nelson Mandela, we are called to continue that process into all sections of our lives and our country. Twenty years down the line from a hopeful start are we destroying everything that we had such high hopes about?

If we could one by one own where we are at this point in time, acknowledging our own attitudes and response to the healthiness or otherwise of ourselves, others and South Africa, decide to move even one small step today towards being on the side of all that is good and could be good, we will begin to swing the pendulum in a positive energy direction. Imagine if all 50 million or more of us today decided to think and be today one positive thing towards someone or a group of people, how South Africa could shake itself like a dog shaking water off its back and come through better tomorrow, only to repeat the same exercise, day after day until we become a renewed people, with a renewed hope and determination to all work together for the good of all. And it all really begins with each of us doing our bit of kind and good thinking to bring about a hope and a future for everyone. Everyone has been endowed by God with life, with all we need to exist with honour, respect and peace with one another and to co-create with God, a good and wonderful life for all.

May we help in our small but inestimable hugeness to steer South Africa into the amazing people and land we are destined to be. The colours of the rainbow are only as beautiful as they are because they are so varied and different and live in co-operation with one another. May we again amaze the world of how we can do what was done 20 years ago, and be an inspiration and an example to everyone, not least of all to each other as we come together to be and to do what is best for everyone. One is well, all is well. One is suffering, all will suffer. We are inextricably bound together. We have to see that and know that we affect the whole one way or another. We are not individual islands, we are one world and one people. People of many cultures, races, nations – but all people however we are made up and whoever we were, are and will be.

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Crucial decisions

Posted on 2014-07-24 by Jeanette

Have you ever thought of how some of our most important decisions are made when we are really quite young and still maturing? What subjects are we going to study for the next 12 to 18 years? What careers are we going to pursue? Who do we choose to partner with? Where we will live? How will we use our free time, our money and resources, our skills, talents and abilities? Are we going to contribute to the wellbeing of others and our planet or leave that till we retire?

Before we knew it we had become older and wiser hopefully, with quite a few bruises, some or many a shattered dream – round tummies and aching bones. All proof of how well we have lived!  Maybe that’s why the  next generation don’t have that much confidence in our advice.

How we would love to share some of our experiences with our children so that they might learn how to live easier lives. How much our ancestors would love us to have learnt from their mistakes of prejudice, injustices, war, greed – and all the rest they had learnt. Why when so much has been written and shared,  and so much is now available, are we still making some really bad decisions? Decisions that negatively impact on us personally and on all around us.

Are we maybe not changing with the times as much as we should be? I think of a blog by Jaroslaw of PlayWithLifE on education I read today – and videos I still want to watch, that made me think of how much more innovative we could be – and desperately need to be, in educating our next generation. It’s a little like using stone age implements in modern day living. No reason why what was good for them shouldn’t be good for us. Thank God for people who push the boundaries – like trips to the moon for our next holidays. My mind boggles and doesn’t understand sound waves and light years, and a million other things, but fortunately I still allow myself to enjoy the benefits of these waves and years, whilst admiring those who do understand and work with these facts, to enhance our lives.

Sure there will be abuses and mistakes and atrocities. But we have gleaned so much from those who have delved deeply into the mysteries of life and found solutions and answers to so many needs and pleasures in our lives.

For many in South Africa to get even the poorest of education is a problem, let alone helping millions of children discover, nurture and develop their abilities, passion and talents that would bring great satisfaction to them and all around them and further afield.

Do you think our homes, our schools, our higher education, colleges and universities, our cultures, faith, and communities  are nurturing and equipping young people for the explosive age we live in? How do parents help when many of us are not sufficiently equipped ourselves to be their role models and guide them in the academic fields, or the relationship arena, or matters spiritual? How do we help the future generation cope with Life and wear a smile on their hearts with hopes and dreams and expectations that will be alive and well in their lives to booster them and encourage them?

What do you think?

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