I think that little green insect, Mr Jiminy Cricket himself, was poorly misinformed. His famous number one hit “When You Wish Upon A Star” made headlines when Pinocchio was introduced to the world on February 7th 1940.
‘When you wish upon a star, Makes no difference who you are
When you wish upon a star, Your dreams come true’
It seems that everywhere you look today people are taking a stand about something and passionately showing what’s important to them. Debates and discussions arise over many issues…carbon tax, the right to die, gay rights, poverty, protection of the … Read More
You’ve heard of the saying, “Keeping up with the Jones’”? A classic social expression relaying the innate need of the human to be better than one’s neighbours. It’s why we need bigger cars, nicer houses, longer holidays, better jobs, and smarter children.
We scheme and we strive, we grasp and we struggle. The driving motivation behind it all?
To be the best and have it all.
This polite social skirmish seems harmless on the surface. What’s wrong with a bit of healthy competition? Let us first define the word ‘health’:
‘health’ – ‘state of being well in body or mind.’
‘healthy’ – ‘having or conducive to good health.’
Are the late-night cold sweats of a feverishly anxious mother trying desperately to finish her twelve-year old daughter’s dance costume before the next day’s performance conducive to her health? And you won’t be convincing me it’s because she “just wants the best for her daughter.” I think maybe it’s the tight, smug looks of Mrs H and Mrs Y that are driving the needle through thread till all hours of the morning.
And what about the father who’s working seventy-hour weeks (in a job he hates) because he has to pay the fees of the elite private school his son attends (and also hates), in order to impress his ‘so-called’ friends (he doesn’t like anyway) who enrolled their sons in the same school over three months ago?
Mmm…conducive to health? I think not.
Where does it all start I wonder? Where did the need to be better than the rest arise from? Who are these Jones people?
One of the major social concerns today that seems to be escalating at an alarming rate is ‘bullying.’ According to Reachout.com, bullying is not limited by age, sex, sexuality or cultural or religious background. The site goes on to say that it is more common than we think, occurring because of differences of physical and mental ability, body size and physical appearance or even being new to a school, workplace, sports team or country. It usually results from people (kids or adults) whose self-esteem depends on appearing superior to others. Bullying uses superior strength or influence to intimidate someone through vindictive, cruel, malicious, humiliating attempts to undermine an individual.
I am reminded of a game we used to play as children called ‘King of the Mountain’ – some may have called it ‘King of the Castle’ or ‘King of the Hill.’ Regardless of its name, it was really bullying being play-acted. The object of the game was to stay on top of a large mound of dirt (or other available high spot) and maintain that position as ‘king.’ Other children grabbed, pulled or pushed the king in an attempt to replace him. Many times the game got significantly rougher where punching or kicking occurred. Of course the king was on high alert, ready to use the advantage of his higher position to push challengers back down the mountain. Whoever succeeded in removing the king from his position, then gained his own opportunity to defend his kingship against attackers.
There are 639 muscles in the human body. Six hundred and thirty-nine! I have a degree in Medical Science so I can name a lot of them – but I don’t remember the names of all 639. Obviously there are those who do – their jobs kind of depend on it – but the average person has no clue. Interesting fact: It takes the interaction of 72 different muscles to produce speech. That means while you’re talking, there are 72 muscles moving around allowing you to do so…think about that the next time you speak.
An adult human has 206 skeletal bones. Two hundred and six! A little more advanced than the old ‘knee bone connected to the shin bone’ song. It also might surprise you to know that your bones are never more than 20 years old, regardless of your biological age, because your body continually produces (with some nutritional help from you) new bone during its lifetime.
A 30-day human embryo is one quarter of an inch long, has a brain of unmistakable human proportions, kidneys, liver, ears, eyes, mouth, an umbilical cord and a pumping heart. A 45-day embryo’s skeleton is complete in cartilage and has made its first movements. And the embryo isn’t brainless at this point either – brain waves have been recorded by an EEG in the human embryo just 40 days after fertilisation.
The intricacy of our bodies is such a wonder to me. I watched my fingers today as they unpacked grocery items. Picking up, twisting, folding, pulling…my digits fiddled with perfect precision barely without even a conscious thought. Driving a car is a marvel also. Looking in the rear vision mirror, applying the break, turning the steering wheel, judging the distances, flicking on the indicator, turning on the lights. Our brains truly are the most amazing CPU’s.
As the residents of New South Wales approach a state election, I would like you to consider whether or not you are a ‘responsible voter.’
At every level and in every arena of life, power struggles occur – everyone wants to be in charge. Men and women wrestle over control of relationships; parents and children struggle with who will rule the house; siblings quarrel over control and supremacy; businesses connive to control various consumer and investment markets; sports teams and athletes compete for first place; political parties strive for the domination of a state or nation; nations war over control of lands, people and wealth. It’s very easy to get caught up in the ‘crossfire’ and just throw up our hands and cop out.
So what will you do on March 26? Will you just vote how your parents vote or how you’ve always voted before? Will you bury your head in the sand by submitting an invalid voting paper? Will you get caught up in the hype of one party or another without looking at the facts – ALL the facts. If we all bothered to take some time and research certain parties, I think we would be surprised at the secrets and hidden agendas that are never exposed to the public!
Life’s interruptions are those times in life when things just don’t seem to go the way we had planned. As I write, my heart and mind drifts to our fellow Australians who suffered so much loss and damage in the recent cyclone and floods. That image is quickly overtaken by yet another nightmare of death and destruction that our New Zealand neighbours have endured during the devastating Christchurch earthquakes – a present death toll of 159 and rising.
How do you cope with life when things go wrong?
What do you do when tragedy strikes someone you love – or all that you thought was stable suddenly is shaken or seems so uncertain?
These are questions we all have to deal with in life…
How we respond to adversity determines the quality of our life – spiritually, emotionally and mentally. We have a decision to make when situations occur in life that we don’t understand. We can choose to find God and to know Him and His character or we can run from God, lose our faith and just go through the ‘religions’ motions (if we even have any).
You know those moments. The moments when you’re tempted to absolutely lose control. When anger rises quicker than the reason to suppress it. When the straw breaks the camel’s back and the mouse sinks the boat.
Do you know about those moments? I do.
It’s been really hot lately. Australian summers are hard to beat, but lately it’s been even hotter.
I have a husband who hates the heat. Loathes it. With him, irritability rises with the mercury of the thermometer. The hotter it gets the further I run.
Today was especially hot. Which means today he was especially irritable. We escaped with the kids to the sanctuary of the air-conditioned mall. His aim: to get a bag of polystyrene beans for our bean bag. His purpose: to sit on the bean bag and watch a movie with the fan directly on him after having a swim in our pool.
Great plan.
But then the moments started rolling in. I won’t bore you with each infinitesimal detail – the dropped milkshake, the pushy crowds, the child tantrum, bla bla bla – but as each insignificant irritation began fusing with the next, we could feel ourselves beginning to bend under the weight of burning frustration and irritability.
At last we find our beans. We grab the bag and shove it in the trolley with all of the other items we never intended on purchasing. He pushes the trolley ahead of me with the two monkey children climbing all over it.
Fifteen metres to the checkout. Ten metres to the checkout. Nearly there. Eight, seven…
We human beings are such fickle creatures. We try so hard to hold on to our firm, full-strength beliefs…but we end up diluting them before long.
Every morning we pull out our big, pulpy bottle of principles and set it on the kitchen bench while we get ready for work. We fix our eyes on the mixture – so rich and frothy; full of intent and passionate conviction. Our standards and ideals swirl round and round in perfect harmony. We are so sure about everything; so doggedly determine to follow through on every last promise. To watch every one of our “I will” statements come to pass with such ease. We could not possibly be persuaded to be anyone other than who we have faithfully set out to be.
But before we even get out the door we have started the dilution process. “I am determined to go for a run this morning” slowly turns into “I might go for one this afternoon.” “I’m not going to yell at my kids today” becomes “But they’re just so annoying, why can’t they listen!”
We’ve just poured a whole glass of water into our bottle of values.
We get to work. “I’m going to try and be nice to this person today.” That is, unless they screw up this presentation for me.
We have lunch. “I am not going to eat three meals in one today!” …well I didn’t have any breakfast; I should probably make up for that.
Today many people completely miss the point of Christmas. Endless festivities and parties – we shop, we cook, we sing songs, we exchange gifts, we get frustrated, we lose our tempers. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the One we are celebrating! Christmas has been hijacked by culture and emptied of its meaning. People have become numb to the real miracle of Christ’s birth…
…but some things never change – history does repeat itself! Most people who were alive when Jesus was born missed Christmas too.
The Innkeeper for instance, was totally oblivious to the fact that the Savior of the world was about to be born! As Mary was full term and ready to deliver this special child, it seems hard to imagine being turned away or given such a lowly place to have your child. The innkeeper was obviously too busy and too preoccupied with misplaced priorities. Hmmm, what about us…too busy for God?
King Herod missed the whole point of Christ’s birth because of fear and insecurity. He wanted to be in control and felt paranoid and threatened by Jesus. There are many ‘Herods’ among us today – they want no one to interfere with their plans, ambitions and lifestyles. They don’t want someone else to be king in their lives so they see Jesus and His way of life as a threat and miss Christmas.