Relationships Archives

Whatever You Do, Don’t Learn Their Name

We all have an identity, a name we have been given, and can identify with. The connection deepens when we learn each other’s name. Each morning I start my day in a comfortable chair, listen to the Bible, thinking about the day ahead, and making a list of tasks. Often […]

Relationships

Forgiveness Is … Letting The Little Fish Go

Sometimes you have to let the little fish go. Those little offenses that need to be forgiven and let go of. I think I must have been aged 6 or 7 when I caught my first fish. It was a sprat. I went on to catch other fish. When […]

Relationships Spiritual Formation

The most Dangerous Word in the World

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What is the most dangerous word in the world? I recently asked this question via my various social networks. The responses were interesting. Here are some. No Yes Can’t If Love For me, I think the most dangerous word in the world is ‘love’. To love means risk. It […]

Mental health Relationships Spiritual Formation

You Want to be Known but …

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To be known is to be pursued, examined, and shaken. To be known is to be pursued, examined, and shaken. To be known is to be loved and to have hopes and even demands placed on you. It is to risk, not only the furniture in your home being rearranged, but […]

Relationships Spiritual Formation

To the Power of Being Known

Have you ever been found, found out, or found wanting? We all want to be known. Artist: David Hayward This picture comes from the story of the Men caught in Hypocrisy. Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down […]

Relationships Spiritual Formation

Do You Ever Want to Clean other Peoples Windows?

Photo Credit: andyaldridge via Compfight cc A young couple moves into a new neighbourhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbour hanging the wash outside. “That laundry is not very clean; she doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry […]

Relationships Spiritual Formation

Who do you Want on your Mental Health Recovery Team?

There is no ideal community. Community is made up of people with all their richness, but also with their weakness and poverty, of people who accept and forgive each other, who are vulnerable with each other. Humility and trust are more at the foundation of community than perfection. Jean Vanier […]

What is the Most Important Thing? He Tangata

Relationships

He Tangata: Why People Are the Most Important Thing

I started my career in Mental Health support in a large old boarding that was a kind of halfway house for people needing quite intensive support. Hanging on the wall of the lounge was a wooden plaque with this Maori Proverb on it. He aha te mea nui? He […]

Relationships Spiritual Formation

How do You Respond When Someone Stabs You in the Back?

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How do you respond when someone spreads rumors about you, gossips, lies, pretends to be your friend while really all they are doing is using and abusing you? A stab in the back. Perhaps they influence other friends to their side of the story. You’re having rotten tomatoes thrown at […]

Relationships Spiritual Formation

God Looks Deeply Inside Of Us–Soul Talk

I have secrets I tell no one. I am not alone in this I am certain. I am sure you have them too. Things you have done have or that have been done to you. Fears, desires, longings, pains, and some things that you are not even consciously aware of. […]