Nigel Wright

Children learn what they live...

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

But!!!

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

Copyright © 1972 by Dorothy Law Nolte

A hundred years from now....

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child."
Forest E. Witcraft (1894 - 1967)

What children need

""Children need the things they always have. But apart from food and clothes, everything else they really need is free.

Love, discipline, play and talking; these things all cost nothing.

The recession might be a handy reminder of what makes good parents." And a happy child."

Words from Sue Palmer (author of toxic childhood) and Rossie Millard (Daily telegraph columnist).

Love, discipline, play and talking all require that fixed resource ... Time... we chid ourselves when we face our own mortality; when we are I'll; or relationships have moved on; or our children have grown up, because we didn't "spend" more time with the people we care for - because we didn't have time!

Thomas Aquinas & the emerging church

Today marks the Church of England remembering Thomas Aquinas and their are a few ironies here. Thomas Aquinas was less the popular in the reformation and his writings less than welcome.

Thank goodness we have come a long way since then. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot about his writing/theology and his approach that just doesn't work for me and I am not a huge fan of systematic theology (despite my accountancy/mathematics background). That said, there is also a lot to learn from the man too and his willingness to engage with philosophy and theology together is worth attention.

Here are a some words used to describe Aquinas that will ring true with many an "emerging church" theologian:

" He exhibits a calm determination to do justice to every facet of what he observes; it enables him to engage with the thoughts of various traditions in his own time, and makes him alive and readable today in our pluralist society." Timothy McDermott - Thomas Aquinas, Selected Philosophical Writings. 

And a little something to ponder on:

"God then causes everything's activity in as much as he gives the power to act, maintains it in existence, applies it to its activity, and inasmuch as it is by his power that every other power acts. And when we add to this that God is his own power and therefore exists within everything, not as part of its being but as holding it in existence, it follows that he is at work without intermediary in everything that is active, but without excluding the activity of nature or of free will." Thomas Aquinas , Is God at work in nature and in will? 

Spending time being

"I guess I haven't been this chilled out in three years" came from my mouth yesterday without really thinking what I was saying, but on reflection, I wasn't wrong. The last time I was, was in New Zealand three years ago!

It hasn't been a total work free trip as each day has had it's hour or so of checking e-mails and dealing with both client and occasionally church based issues and I have also spent a long day writing a paper on the Council of Jerusalem! But all that aside, the chance to "be" with family and friends is priceless.

New Zealand is for me also a very spiritual place, it is in many ways creation at it's most vibrant and passioned with a wonderful amenable climate too.

Listening to Snow Patrol's "Chasing cars" I give thanks and smile...

I exist because you exist

I exists because you exist is a phrase I always associate with Bonhoeffer but todays post from the Henri Nouwen daily reflection also captures the power of that phrase:

The word community has many connotations, some positive, some negative. Community can make us think of a safe togetherness, shared meals, common goals, and joyful celebrations. It also can call forth images of sectarian exclusivity, in-group language, self-satisfied isolation, and romantic naivete. However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own (see Philippians 2:4). The question, therefore, is not "How can we make community?" but "How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?"

These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey.

Visit HenriNouwen.org for more inspiration!

The bold highlights are my emphasis...

Neo-Thomist heretic

I get accused of being many things but the latest was a bit of a mystery to me - a Neo-Thomist heretic!

Wasn't really sure what it meant to start with, must be something to do with Thomas Aquinas - theology - philosophy. Decided to check it out further...

We did study Aquinas a little at college, but more form the theology angle and his place in the journey of theological thought through history. What I hadn't had chance to investigate and explore at college was his philosophy base. So the explorations are underway!

The world of philosophy and spirituality in Christianity are a passion I would not want to be without. Favourites on my bookshelves at the moment include, John D. Caputo, Rubem Alves, Jean Vanier, Deitrich Bonhoeffer and John O'Donohue... and now perhaps writings on Neo-Thomist philosophy!

To my critic, thank you for the introduction, and please remember that most of us exploring issues of life and faith in the blogging world are exploring ideas openly for the benefit of each other and those who choose to read the blogs!    

discoverers and seekers...

Being a teacher refers less to one who gives answers and expects conformity . . . and more to one who is capable of providing contexts and stimuli so each learner can discover for him or herself. Such teachers are skillful intermediaries and guides in the search for meaning and self-understanding. Rather than creating followers or imitators, their objective is to cultivate discoverers and seekers.

One of the qualities that seem to characterize great teachers is their willingness and capacity to go beyond given and inherited or conditional boundaries. Part of their genius is to be able to see things differently and act accordingly.

— Ronald L. Massanari ¹

1.	"Re-visioning Education", in ReVISION, vol. 11, no. 2 ( Fall 1988), pp. 27-30.

Take it easy...

Sometimes a picture speaks...mmm...

...well some words anyway - I kinda like it!

(Image somewhere from Google image bank)

The Matrix is back

For those able to view ITV The Matrix was given an airing yesterday evening and the two sequels follow on this evening and tomorrow evening.

I was curious to read the Newspapers and Internet reviews of the films and how there is much reference to the philosophical and the spiritual but no reference (in main stream) to the Biblical and Gospel within the films. The Sunday times even referred to it as having a lot of philosophical mumbo-jumbo which distracted from what was otherwise a good action movie (or words to that effect), mmmm, missing the point?

  Films and mainstream TV have always been a source of inspiration...