Back to Ballet

Some people have hobbies when they're children and as they grow up this hobby grows with them, and in some way it might form a part of their identity.  For me it was ballet.  I'm not sure how much ballet was a part of my identity, but I started when I was only five years old, and stopped when I reached year 12 because I wanted to focus on school.  At its high point I was doing four or five hours of dancing every week. 

I haven't done ballet in six years now and some time last year I realised that I missed it.  I'm not sure what exactly it was that I missed.  I certainly didn't miss exams or concerts, painful toes from pointe shoes, or getting changed into a leotard.  I think part of it was that I missed my muscles feeling strong, that sense of posture that comes with ballet, and the friendships I shared with those in my class. 

What I learned

Last week at college we had what is called Research Week.  We didn't have any classes, and every year level had a major assignment due at the end of the week (except 4th years, they just have lots of work all the time as far as I can tell). 

For first years it was a New Testament Essay.  In New Testament we've been studying Mark, Ephesians and 1 Peter, so the essay topics cover things from these books of the Bible.  The topic I chose comes from 1 Peter.  The question was about the resurrection and I chose it because I often forget about the resurrection when I think about an outline to the gospel, I don't really understand it's full significance and I wanted to understand the resurrection better. 

Love your neighbour

This weekend just been, someone told me that she really liked the honesty in my last post, so here goes with a new one. 

In some ways, loving the physical neighbours my husband and I have is really easy and quite a joy.  We live in a community of other students from college and there’s so many ways that we love and support each other.  We share meals, pray together, drive in to college together, pick each other up from the airport (thanks so much to those who did this for us this weekend!).  It’s (mostly) easy to love Christians and I absolutely love living in our community. 

But if we love only those who love us, that doesn’t say much.  It is good for Christians to love each other, as this is an example to the world (John 13:35), but that’s not enough. 

Meet a stranger

One of my subjects at college this semester is called 'Understanding Buddhism and Islam'.  As part of this subject we have to have two conversations with a Muslim or a Buddhist to talk about their beliefs.

I do not want to do this.  Meeting new people is nerve-wracking enough for me even when they're Christian.  It's not so bad when you're put in a situation together and you're forced to meet, like get-to-know-you time at church or group discussions in class.  You know that the people around you are expecting to have a conversation.  Or even when you're only semi-forced, like sitting next to someone in a lecture.  You're both already in the situation, they're right there, you just have to start talking.

But when you have to find someone to talk to; approach them when they're not looking for or asking for a conversation, that's when it's scary.

Starting this kind of conversation terrifies me.

Who do I write for?

I recently read a blog post where the author questioned who she should be writing for.  Was it her readers?  Or herself?  She didn’t want to write things that her readers would find boring, so she found herself holding back a bit from things that she really did want to write about. 

Other bloggers encouraged her to write for herself.  It’s her blog after all, and if she doesn’t write what she wants to write about it becomes impassionate and not honest. 

Thinking about Glory

The talks at first year weekend away were on the topic of glory.  Rather than simply report on what was talked about, I’ll reflect on the things that struck me and my responses. 

Glory is a tricky word to try and pin down.  What does God’s glory look like?  What does it mean?  Before these talks I might have said something vague about God’s greatness and how I would be awestruck to see his glory.  There would also be this vague idea of shining or glowing…