Unforced errors

Each summer I like to watch the Australian Open tennis and generally I post about a parallel between life and tennis. This year I'm writing about unforced errors.

Unforced errors are so named because the player has made an error but it wasn't forced by the opponent. However even double faults can almost be forced errors because the player knows that if he doesn't hit a good serve he is going to lose the point so they hit a bit harder or a bit deeper and miss. An unforced error has almost been forced by the good returning of the opponent.

Last night I watched Hewitt play Raonic. I actually think Raonic was the better player but Hewitt won the match. Hewitt put so much pressure on Raonic that it caused him to make supposedly 'unforced' errors. Commentators often talk about the ability of a player to soak up the pressure and not let it affect their game. Depending on how well a player is able to do this can determine the outcome of the match.

I wonder in life how good we are at soaking up the pressure and not caving in the tactics of our enemy, the devil? The devil knows how to put us under pressure, he knows how to remind us of the difficulties that distress us, he knows how to remind us of incidents where we were mistreated. Like tennis players we need to soak up the pressure, stick to our game plan of focusing on the goodness of God and not be distracted by these unwanted thoughts.

We are on the move (yet again!)

Sometimes God’s guidance is like the burning bush that Moses experienced. A supernatural event or chain of events happens that makes it clear God is directing you. Other times God’s guidance is less obvious, more like the, “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” in Acts 15:28.

When we moved four years ago it was very much the burning bush type experience. There were a number of amazing events that God orchestrated which lead us to move to our present location. I wrote about it here and here.

This time though it has been the, “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” type experience where there has been no striking events just an inner confidence that God is leading. Both forms of guidance are completely valid. In Acts 15:28 the decision they made on the basis on it seeming good was quite momentous in its day. The decision was about whether converts to Christianity needed to adhere to Jewish customs. In other words did people need to become Jews in order to follow Christ . Basically they decided no, which was a very radical decision at the time. Yet there was no burning bush, no supernatural event just an inner conviction.

Sometimes I think God gives us “burning bush” experiences at those times when He knows we are going to be tested. Sometimes we need an experience we can look back on and say “Although things haven’t worked out the way I thought, I know I'm meant to be here.” Other times we don’t need an experience but rather we walk by faith, trusting that God is leading even when there are no obvious signs that He is.

Unfortunately my blogging is disrupted when we move and already I have been missing here more than I would like. Packing is a time consuming activity especially as I like to have a good clear out at the same time. Nevertheless I will endeavour to write when I can and hopefully in about a month things will be back to normal.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all my readers a very merry Christmas. I'll be visiting family for the next ten days so won't be posting here. I'll also be playing with my Christmas present - an iPad! Hope you have also have a blessed time. See you in 2012.

Book Reflection : There should be more dancing

This book provides some interesting insights into growing old. Margery wants to continue living in her own home until she dies but her failing health meant others were pressurizing her into moving to a place where she could be cared for.

The fact is we will all grow old. If we don't make decisions regarding our living arrangements while we can, then others will eventually make them for us. And they may be decisions we don't like. For Margery, at the end of the book, she ended up with a reasonable compromise, but for how long? If her health continues to slide will she be forced to move?

Other insights Margery provides into old age, were the comforts of routines, the ordinary and the predictable. While we are young we enjoy the challenges of change and variety but when we aged we find comfort in the familiar. But we can't inflict this restriction on the young. Mostly Margery did this well. While she disagreed with many of her children's decisions she rightly kept her opinions to herself.

Book Review : There should be more dancing

There should be more dancing is a mildly amusing story by Rosalie Ham about old age. The main character is Margery Blandon, a woman of strong principles but rather naïve. She is an elderly widow who has lived in the same house for decades with mostly the same neighbours. Consequently everyone knows a great deal too much about everyone else. Margery has three adult children who have not turned out as well as she had hoped. Although she cares deeply for them, she rarely shows it in ways her children appreciate.

Rosalie Ham cleverly shows two sides to Margery’s character. The unemotional apparently nonchalant side that Margery’s friends and children experience and the internal side where she is a caring mother who grieves the loss of her twin sister who died when Margery was young.

Rosalie writes in an easy to read, enjoyable style and manages to keep the reader guessing as to what Margery’s future holds, which turns out to be rather an anti-climax but completely realistic. The story explores the long term effects of unresolved grief and loss in childhood which leaves ongoing repercussions in Margery’s life.

While there was nothing particularly startling in the story, it was well written enjoyable tale.