How well do you know the people living in your neighbourhood? Reconciliation begins by taking that first step to know our neighbour. There was a story I once read about a Lutheran pastor who was new in town — it could have happened to people of any denomination though, and probably has.

This is a picture of the splendid High Altar at Godmanchester Church. The impressive reredos of the high altar with its gilt wood carving and figures was designed in 1901 by G F Bodley. The purple frontal, used in Lent and Advent, is particularly attractive.

I came across this video recently. The style of music isn’t my favourite, not by a long way, but neither do I particularly dislike it. However, I think the video itself is an absolute masterpiece — very clever.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kingdom of the unreal but also a higher state of being, ultimately free of the limitations of the material world through the agency of science, technology, and imagination.

Visit neurosonicsaudiomedical.com for more info and credits.

Where do the beliefs you hold about yourself originate from? In the post I put on here from Lou Tice at the Winners Circle last week, Lou talked a little about where the negative beliefs we hold about ourselves may have come from. In this week’s he expands on that, and gives us some great examples of people who have been able to overcome that negativity.

How many of your beliefs about yourself were put there by others who may have been well-meaning, but mistaken?

Do you believe that you just don’t have what it takes to succeed in life – that you are not smart enough, strong enough or capable enough to achieve much?

If so, where did you originally get those beliefs? It could very well be from adults who gave you, when you were very young, their opinions about you. And because these people were your authorities, you took in these beliefs and made them your own.

But, did you know that many successful people have had similar beliefs programmed into them, and have gone on to prove them wrong?

In his early years, Albert Einstein was a poor student who was called mentally slow and unsociable. Abraham Lincoln’s teachers described him as a daydreamer who asked foolish questions. Thomas Edison was called a hopeless case when he was seven years old. His teacher described him as “addled” and said it would be useless for him to continue in school. All of these people came to realize that authority figures were not the determiners of their destiny. Rather, they themselves were. And there are thousands, if not millions, of these stories!

So, if you are being held back because of beliefs you got early in life, ask yourself whether it might be worthwhile to throw them out and replace them with others that will serve you better.

Lou Tice
The Pacific Institute

I don’t know about you, but this post gives me a great deal of hope and inspiration. If the likes of Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Edison can turn around their initial negativity in such a dramatic way as they did, then surely I, who doesn’t aspire to greatness or anything, can turn things around in a much lesser way. I know, although I frequently can’t see it, that I have some good and positive things about me. It’s too easy for me to remember the negative things, and even expand on them; I don’t want to think that way any more.

There’s a great quote from Mark Twain, “I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” That’s me; and it is time to change.

Another helpful post from Lou Tice at the Winners Circle. If you think you might benefit from more, do please consider subscribing to the daily emails yourself; it doesn’t cost anything.

This is one of those jokes you can imagine actually happening. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. But, before you start reading, please accept my apologies — you’ll understand why!

Ewwww!!!

Over the last few weeks, my health, which is never good, has been particularly unstable. And, in fact, the last couple of weeks it has been really poor. I’ve been getting a lot of pain, which has frequently been keeping me awake too. Normally, when it gets like this, I do manage odd days when I don’t feel quite so bad. Not this time though; it has been pretty relentless. It will pass, eventually; it always does.

Whenever it gets bad like this, I do start to question, in my mind, what I’m doing, and what God wants me to do. I guess, by nature, I’m always going to be someone who needs reassuring about things. And right now, I really need reassuring about things, and about my ministry in particular.

There have been times of doubt, but I think, deep down, even in those times of doubt I’ve always believed that I’m doing what God wants me to do, at least, with regards to my Church-based ministry. But I don’t know any more, and it feels like more than just doubts. I feel completely lost.

In recent weeks I’ve had to pull out of so much; not just things that I felt I should be doing, but things I really wanted to do too. Normally, when I’m bad, I am at least able to hang on to the fact that there’s still things I can do to help out, even if it’s only behind-the-scenes type stuff. But, today I realized how much I’m struggling even with that. I know a lot of the reason for that is how tired, how utterly exhausted, I feel.

I also know that, if it wasn’t for the ability to schedule posts to publish in the future with WordPress, even this blog would have floundered and, possibly, died by now.

So no answers from me on the Third Sunday of Lent, just a fervent prayer: “Eternal God, give us insight to discern your will for us” — Eternal God, give me insight to discern your will for me.

Eternal God,
give us insight
to discern your will for us,
to give up what harms us,
and to seek the perfection we are promised
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect for The Third Sunday of Lent
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

The night watches can be scary times, especially when we’re awake and alone. I was reading about one way the young men of some Native Americans tribes proved their manhood before they became Braves — not an easy trial.

Too often, the darkness seems so overwhelming that we feel totally alone. It’s the promise of our heavenly Father that he’ll be there, especially in the night, to guard and protect us and see us safely through until morning.

This is another picture of a carving from under one of the magnificent misericords we have at Godmanchester Church. These misericords came originally from nearby — probably either from Ramsey Abbey or from Huntingdon Priory — and are of significant artistic and historical value. As you can see, the carving has taken quite a battering over the years, and the face is virtually gone. But one thing that does remain very clear is the “WS” carved onto the shield. It’s thought that those initials refer to William Stevens, who was Vicar from 1470 to 1481.

I have always been something of a fan of Adrian Plass; he is very funny. In this video he’s giving a (not so) typical set of Announcements before a service in an Anglican Church — he must have been to Godmanchester!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Do you view yourself in a positive or a negative way? In this post from Lou Tice at the Winners Circle he talks about where the negative beliefs so many of us hold about ourselves may have come from. And, most importantly, lets us know that we can change that thinking.

If you have negative beliefs about yourself, did you ever stop to take a look at how they got there in the first place?

We all have beliefs about who we are and what we are like. However, we were not born with these beliefs, so how did we get them? Well, one of the most common ways is by what we are told about ourselves by others when we are young – especially by important grownups like parents and teachers. Now this telling can be verbal or nonverbal, and for our own sanity, it is important that they match.

In other words, if my parents tell me I am smart and funny but they seldom laugh at my jokes or really listen to me, and they don’t pay much positive attention to my accomplishments, I am likely to give their actions more weight than their words.

Now, that weight, or sanction, is important. Because it is not until you give sanction to someone else’s message that you really take it in and make it a part of yourself. If you are a little kid and your parents tell you that you are clumsy or stupid enough times, and they treat you like you are clumsy and stupid, you will take that in and give it sanction. You will believe yourself to be clumsy and stupid. You will make clumsy and stupid part of your self-image, and sure enough, you will start to act clumsy and stupid.

Fortunately, once you are grown there are things you can do to deliberately change those parts of your self-image that are negative. I have been teaching people how to do this for nearly 40 years, and, believe me, you can do it too.

Lou Tice
The Pacific Institute

I tend to view myself in a very negative way. And while I’ve never been someone who is supremely confident about themselves, I don’t think my negativity really stems from my childhood. In fact, with the help of the insights I gained about myself from reading the Winners Circle, I think I could take a good guess at a few things that have happened much later in life — one of which is my ongoing health problem — that have certainly fuelled my innate negativity, even if not actually started it off.

I can certainly see the sense of what he says about actions fuelling beliefs even more than words. And can think of people I have known over the years who have been seriously affected in that way.

It’s good to know that there’s something we can do about changing those negative beliefs. I think, with the help of what I’ve read from Lou Tice, I’ve started the process. Though, I know I still have a way to go, sometimes much further than others. It’s usually when I go through one of my all-too-frequent bad patches with my health that I’m at my worst for negativity about myself. But I will improve; with patience and perseverance, I will improve.

This is another post from Lou Tice at the Winners Circle that prompted some helpful thinking in me; they usually do. If you think you might benefit too, do please consider subscribing to the daily emails yourself — it won’t cost you anything.