learning from a learner driver

On the way to church this arvo, we went past a learner driver, and on the back of the car was a big sign saying "Be Patient".

It's so easy to get frustrated with people who are learning, and easy to forget that we all had to learn at some point, too. What a great reminder that if we are sitting behind a learner driver, we should be patient with them (something I excel at... ahem...), because the last thing they need is pressure, and they're not going to learn and develop if they can't be "on the road".

For all parts of life, I think the same applies - it's easy to get frustrated with those who are learning skills, and easy to forget our own path. What's more impacting for me, though, is that I need (humbling as it is) a big "Be Patient" sign stuck on my head, to remind myself to be patient as I'm learning, to remember that others had to develop over time, and weren't instantly great at the things they do.

Be Patient...

delayed gratification

I've been thinking a bit lately about how much we are shaped by the instant gratification that our culture has sold us on. A lot of the decisions we make seem to be dictated by how I feel right now - whether I can be bothered making that phone call/sending that encouragement/going to the gym/reading that book/doing that cleaning.

Once again, the gym made me thing about it, because I was sitting at home on Tuesday, deciding whether I'd go or not. To be honest, I really didn't want to - I was happy at home, warm, had other things I thought about doing. But, I did go, and 1/2 way through my workout, I thought "why would I have wanted to miss how I feel now?"

I wish there was a way of experiencing how we are going to feel ahead of time. In other words, I wish my body/mind would allow me to know how I was going to feel after I'd been to the gym/finished the assignment I needed to do/ticked some things off my to do list/etc... but allow me to feel that as part of the motivation of actually doing it.

I wonder if that's where habits and rituals help. If we do something often enough, our body/mind is much better able to know how we are going to feel, and so give us extra motivation to get on and do it.

everybody needs good neighbours?

Driving around yesterday, I was surprised to see 2 churches (a Baptist and a Uniting church) right next to each other - and I mean literally next door to each other. We were on our way to a family lunch, driving past as their services were finishing, and I found myself wondering why on earth 2 faith communities would want to set themselves up that close to each other.

The more I thought about it, the more amazed I became - think about it... at the same time yesterday, these 2 God-families were probably singing similar songs, listening to a preacher each, having tea and coffee, talking about the events coming up this week. It seems very odd to me. I guess it's no different to what happens all the time on a Sunday morning, it's just that this time, they were right next to each other.

We have issues at our church at times, with our neighbours complaining about the noise we make - I wonder if either of these churches ever find themselves frustrated at the "noise" of the other - one church singing songs while the other is trying to pray, for example...

Like I said, seems a bit odd to me...

change of address

I decided to change my blog to a more logical (though some would doubt that I have achieved this) name, so my apologies if you've been wondering what happened to my old blog and have just stumbled over here. From now on, please update your favourites and links to http://randomcogitationist.blogspot.com

prayer

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about prayer. Subconsciously, we seem to have this idea that prayer is about changing God's mind, or maybe about convincing God to do things the way we'd like to. We know that part of prayer is about what God wants, but there seems to be a bit of a mentality that I've seen (especially around church prayer meetings - not as much at our church, thankfully!) that if we do things right (get enough people coming, pray for long enough, hard enough, etc), then God will act.

I'm sure you've never heard (or prayed) things like "God, we just (why do we use "just" so much when we pray?) pray that you'll turn up tonight", "God, we pray you'll do this or that".

I'm actually starting to think that prayer is a lot more about me, than God. Sound ego-centric? Maybe. But what if I approach prayer from the perspective that I'm not trying to convince God, but trying to get his heart. In praying for someone I know who's sick, I'm trying to understand that God cares even more about that person than I do, I'm asking God to help me bring healing and restoration to them when I see them next. In praying for a situation, I'm trying to find out what God is thinking about/doing in that situation. In confession, I'm not telling God anything he doesn't know, but being honest with myself about my sin, and understanding how amazing it is that God forgives me.

It might seem obvious, but I don't hear many people talking about it, and I hear even less people praying like it. I guess it comes back to the core reason why I pray - do I pray to change God's mind, or to get God's heart?