Living life as a Chameleon

Jackson: at the beginning

How often do you change who you are to fit the people you are with? It's so much easier, isn't it, to change your personality, just for a little while, to be cool, be liked, to be admired. And yet, we're not being true to ourselves. 

I'd like you to meet Jackson, and he's great at this. He moves into a new background and just changes to suit it, so much so if you look away, you can't recognise him, he's no longer what you expect him to be. 

Yes, you guessed it, Jackson was a chameleon we (briefly) had as a 'pet' in Uganda...until  we wandered off back into the bush. But, the point of this example remains the same, how often are we untrue to ourselves, our core beliefs just so we can fit in?

Jackson: just over 1 hour later (and a good few minutes of searching)

I know I'm prone to it. I tell myself that it's okay when someone jokes about my beliefs (I mean, they're only joking - right?) That I'm not hurt when someone insults my rather uncool interests, because, knitting doesn't really define me....

But, if I lie to others about the little things, get used to hiding the things I deem 'uncool' what is to stop the little things getting bigger and bigger and it leading to me hiding major parts of myself. How is that 'living'?

So, I ask you, do you agree with this quote, and if you do you need to change your life? 

 "It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not."

Andre Gide 

Prayer: just a list of 'me' requests?

Bear with me on this one. (Please)

So, over the weekend I ended up watching a load of Disney songs on youtube with my little sister and this one really hit home, so sit back, relax and watch it now :)

What stuck me as I watched this, is Esmeralda's prayer compared to the other character's portrayed. And I wondered, how often do I present to God a list of my requests, compared to how often do I intercede for others in my prayers?

I'm not saying that I shouldn't ask for things, The Lord's prayer is quite clear that I should. But, what I wonder is, how often do I pray for the other parts of The Lord's prayer? Because, it that's how Jesus told me to pray, surely I should pray into all parts of the prayer, rather than just my daily bread. How often do I praise God, how often do I ask for his will to be done on earth, for his Kingdom to come, for people to recognise that he is God?

Honestly, not as much as I'd like.

So, I challenge you, pray into The Lord's prayer as you read it, make it your prayer, rather than words that get repeated (mindlessly if your me.) Breathe your life into words that may have lost their meaning to you.

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen.

God, Dinosaurs and Kangaroos

It's safe to say that it was Charles Darwin's book, The Origin of Species, that started off the creationism vs evolution debate, a debate that continues today and will probably keep continuing, because let's be honest we're never really going to know the answers. 

So, why am I writing this, partly because I don't really know what I believe. I know staple facts. (And yes, I'd say that God created the world is a staple fact - at least to me) but the ins and outs of this creation, I don't know. I'm not totally against either idea, and I think they can both co-exist. 

I started to think about this whole issue yesterday after reading a slightly out of date news article on the Dawkins v Williams debate (click here to read it) and then later on (whilst procrastinating on facebook I found this graph, I have no idea if it's legit, but it got me thinking about what I believe and why.

Copied directly from: www.gallup.com/poll/155003/Hold-Creationist-View-Human-Origins.aspx

From these two bits of information, it got me thinking, that many people believe that theory of creationism, the theory of the big bang and then evolution aren't opposite theories, but one (the big bang theory then evolution) is just an explanation about how God created the world. And mean, God just states an order about how he created the world, which the evolution theory follows.

Many people have a problem with Dinosaurs not being mentioned in the bible, I don't, because lets be honest Kangaroos aren't mentioned either and I've seen and stroked one and I know for a fact they are real. As are bacteria, and yet again they aren't mentioned. So, I wondering, if God didn't mention them, does this argument really matter? I mean, I believe God created this world - it's too amazing not to have been created - but do I really need to know the ins and outs of how he created it? Probably not, I just need to admire his immense power and imagination in creating such an amazing world. Because, realistically, I'm never going to understand how he formed the world even if he sat me down and talked me through it. It's only ever going to blow my mind. 

So, what do YOU think?

Spiritual Pampering

Yesterday I helped out at a craft afternoon, where the students held a pamper room, and it's amazing just how a little bit of nail varnish can make you feel better - especially when someone else wants to paint your nails for you. (Sorry boys.) 

 So, as a little bit of nail varnish makes women (well me at least) feel better about my physical self, I thought I'd share a couple of bible verses that make me feel better about my whole self.

"Since you are precious and honoured in my sight,

and because I love you."

Isaiah 43:4

"For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,"

Psalm 139: 13-14