A recent study by the UK Department of Education has discovered the top ten factors in having happy children. Some surprises, but a lot of great encouragement for parents. Here's the list:
So worth persevering with family meal times, keeping the lines of communication open and insisting on brocolli.
But you might also check out Luke 6 v 20-23 for some challenging thoughts on how your children will be truly happy... it's Jesus' list. I suppose the rather glaring difference between the two springs from the fact that Jesus' factors are taking eternity into account, rather than focusing only on the here and now.
Jesus is everywhere in the Old Testament: He said so Himself (in Luke 24 v 27).
There are the famous bits, like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 and the Passover in Exodus 12-13. But recently I've been reading through 2 Samuel, mainly because I'm not sure I've ever read through it from start to finish before. And in 2 Samuel 15, God's chosen king David faces a rebellion. His own son has set himself up as king in his place; Israel has rejected him. He's been betrayed by a trusted companion, Ahithophel. He has to flee Jerusalem, passing through the Mount of Olives as he does so. Those who see him weep.
It looks as though all is lost: God's christ, David, has lost God's kingdom.
But outside Jerusalem, David wins a great victory, and is restored to the throne.
It should be a happy ending, but it isn't. His rebellious son, Absalom, is killed, and David mourns for him: “My son Absolom! If only I had died instead of you!” (2 Samuel 18 v 33).
David's kingship is secured, but his rebellious son could not be saved.
I was happily reading through this historical account (I'm a history geek) when the penny dropped: what happened to God's "christ" David is a glimpse of what would happen a millennium later to God's ultimate Christ, Jesus.
But Jesus could do what David only wished he could: save His rebellious people, by dying instead of them. On Jesus' lips, David's “If only I had died instead of you” became “This is my body, given for you” (Luke 22 v 19).
Jesus both secured his kingship and saved his rebellious children.
That's our King. Isn't He amazing?
Jesus in 2 Samuel. Wow.
If you've come across Jesus in the Old Testament recently, do share it below so we can all say “Wow” (or, in more theological language, “Alleluia”).
Stop press: the Bible encourages us to have sex outside marriage.
Or at least one Bible translation did—the so-called "Wicked Bible", a 1631 edition of the King James Version which managed to miss the word "not" out of the seventh commandments.
It's going on display, along with a lot of other very old (and much more correct!) Bibles, at Cambridge University.
Got me thinking: first, were there any happily-married 17th-century readers who immediately ran out of the house to obey the command?!
And second, what Bible verse today do we most often act as though it said something very different? Mine would probably be replacing the word "pure" with "zero" in James 1 v 2.
There were a hundred people on the platform, and only about 20 spaces left on the train. So there I was jostling with everyone else, trying to get through the doors before they shut. I even managed to dodge in front of a woman who'd been queuing in front of me. I was going to make it!
Then, for some unknown reason (actually, it was probably the Holy Spirit), these words popped into my head:
“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10 v 44-45).
I was trying to get myself to a position higher (nearer the doors) than I deserved by my queuing. Jesus would not only have not done that, he would have have got himself to a position lower, further away from the doors, than He deserved.That's what greatness looks like in His kingdom.
Occasionally I make some big, obvious act of service (usually in church, usually where people can see). But how often have I jostled on the platform? How regularly do I miss the opportunity, in all sorts of circumstances, to become a “slave of all”, and do what's best for others and not for me?
So, next time the signals are down and there's a mass scramble for the train, I'm going to try to let those words of Christ affect my behaviour. Even train queues are a chance to be Christlike.
I must be missing loads of others. All suggestions for other situations welcome – comment below!
The hole in the bag of muesli spilled a small pile of grain to the floor. A small collection of random fluff and objects is found gathered into a nest behind the sofa. Our worst fears are realised. Mickey's come to town.
After much searching, the mousetrap is finally found and set (with chocolate as the bait). We bed down for the night to wait what the morning will bring. It brings a tiny corpse, a problem solved, but also some conflicting emotions.
I know they are filthy and unhygenic. But as I stare at Jerry in the trap, I am overwhelmed by just how beautiful he looks. No other word to describe. Even in his squashed and lifeless state, the eyes shine, the feet are tiny works of perfection, the glossy nose and the feathery whiskers are a miracle of design and construction. I mourn for this glorious piece of God's handiwork that I had squished the life out of, for the sake of homeland security.
"Don't show it to me" says the beloved. "it was only trying to get along and to live". (She was the one who'd ordered the execution, but it wasn't the moment to mention that.) Daughters variously fascinated, appalled, bemused.
As the dog sniffs interestedly, and not-so-speedy Gonzales is placed in a crumpled Sainsbury's bag and committed to the deep of the dustbin, I wonder at the value of my own life and its passing.
“All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall...” says Peter.
I am nothing, small as a mouse when compared to the span of history and the breadth of the cosmos: and yet, and yet:
... but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.
Through the Gospel message I can endure forever. Humbled. Inspired.
That's the challenge a senior editor at American Christian publisher Crossway gave to 25 ministers and scholars.
It makes for some interesting reading. The longest sentence is 132 words—the shortest is just four!
Why not add your summary by commenting below?
Really sad story in the papers today, about a young woman who announced in her Facebook “status update” that she'd overdosed on pills and would soon die.
Many ignored her - some poked fun online - no-one went to help her, and she died.
In some ways, it's a kind of Good Samaritan story for the technological age - she was dying by the roadside, and people just cyber-walked by. But, sadly, there was no Good Samaritan in this real-life tragedy.
It got me to thinking (a bit, it was quite late). My first thought was: thank goodness our church community isn't like Facebook! In church, we bear one another's burdens; we take one another seriously; we care enough to ask others how they are and listen to the answer; we put ourselves out to love one another sacrificially.
This kind of thing just wouldn't happen in church. Phew!
REALLY?
But then I though: Is that actually true? Is my church really like that? And am I a church member who does look out for others; who does take an interest in others and put myself out for them?
Would I notice if someone wasn't there, and follow it up? Would others know they could ring my phone or my doorbell at any time they needed to?
Worryingly, I'm really not sure.
“As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13 v 34-35)
Let's start a new "tradition" for new year! We have Santa who leaves presents, a tooth fairy that exchanges worn out molars for money and an Easter Bunny that dispenses chocolate for no good reason - why not a Resolution Goblin that sneaks into your room on New Year's Eve and leaves suggestions for how you can improve yourself in the coming year?
