Make progress a bit at a time The sculptor begins with the wood and a chisel – chip, chip away. After one chip you don’t see much definition – not even after two, but you are purposefully moving towards your goal – even if you are the only person who knows it! Not much Read More …
Is the church dead or alive?
Dead or Alive! Jesus roughly shook the slumbering church. “Are you dead?” He asked, as a few in the congregation stirred. “Is there any life left?” One member stumbled to his feet. “You can see we are alive. Look at our reputation. We are in a good position where everyone can see us – an Read More …
Backfired!
It’s for you! No…..it’s for me! There are times when I have written a sketch intending to put across a message for others – and it has backfired! Suddenly I find the message is hitting me in the face as if I had never seen the sketch before! Recently, I have found myself in a Read More …
When will you finally finish it?
Starting can be easy. If I have an idea, I can start writing with a surge of enthusiasm. Sometimes ideas have happened during worship, during church, during a house-group. I have only jotted down a line or two, or briefly an explanation, or sung into my phone. I have caught the idea – but it Read More …
Light on the darkness
A shaft of sunlight enters the room. It illuminates a sea of dust like plankton, swimming in the air, glistening. I wish it was glitter. How can all that stuff be in the air? What am I breathing in? What unknown influence surrounds me? If I am only seeing one tiny shaft of light, how Read More …
Communicate! Enough is Enough!
I am so pleased not to be chained to a word count! When I studied Drama, writing was about getting the only words needed for the job – and seeing if you could make those lines stronger. In other words, writing, then cutting lines and chunks until only the very essence of the message was Read More …
Sleeping Artists – Awake!
Some years ago I was getting my thoughts together on creativity and had a look at Isaiah 42:6-9. “What does that have to do with being creative?” you ask. I have to ask, why did Jesus choose to tell stories? What are the effects of stories on the listener? I think stories cause people to Read More …
Thinkblot – sketch a thought
Mincing words! Some years ago I had a picture of a mincer – where meat goes into a revolving contraption and strings of meat comes out. In my picture the meat was words. Words were going into the mincer and coming out re-written. The words turned into people; lives being re-written, re-directed after going into Read More …
Leah: A Woman Holding On
I feel sorry for Leah. Watching a romance develop under her nose for seven years could not have been fun. Becoming the wife of her sister’s chosen husband must have been awkward at least, and comments in the Bible make it clear that she felt unloved. Yet, she had six sons and a daughter, and Read More …
Support, friendship and thoughtful words for your soul
You see them in libraries sometimes. People all go away with the same book, then come together to share about it. It is a kind of home-group for readers. I would like to see this idea in action in churches. I feel that “Leah” and “Rachel’s Child” have a lot of depth and would Read More …
