Chris Gribble

Be yourself - Everyone else is taken (Oscar Wilde)

A Reflection on Psalm 61

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My Version

Today I feel like giving up,
Opposition is all around me,
It never seems to let up,
Are you listening God?

When the fear rises up inside of me,
I can taste its foul stench,
I feel sick with worry,
About what can go wrong.

When my enemy wears me down,
I must learn to look to God,
I can’t solve my enemy’s problems,
I know You have protected me in the past,
And, You will continue to protect me in the future.

Praise is the best response to fear,
Fear shrinks when God is praised,
God’s will is fulfilled in praise.

A Reflection on Psalm Two

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My Version

Why are intelligent, powerful people so stupid,
They make idiotic plans,
Then they expect people to follow them,
But, their plans never consider God,
Reality is they actually oppose God.
Then as their stupidity grows,
Their plans become plots to destroy God,

All this doesn’t scare God,
Laughter is his response to their idiocy,
God’s plans cannot be changed by humans,
Even humans who think that they are in control,
His plans involve his children,
They are protected against the powerful,
When they use their power to bring down the weak,
God’s response is steely look,
That should strike terror into their hearts.

I will praise God this morning for his protection,
I will celebrate that I am his child,
My experience this morning is a loving look,
Today my plan is to have God in his right place in my life.

 

A Celtic Meditation Exercise – Hand Meditation

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A Hand Meditation

Sitting with your palms up resting in your lap, eyes closed, tune into your breathing, relax your tension points and go into your centre.

Become aware of the air at your fingertips, between your fingers, on the palm of your hand. Experience the fullness, strength and maturity of your hands. Think of your hands, think of the most unforgettable hands you have known  the hands of your father, your mother, your grandparents. Remember the oldest hands that have rested in your hands. Think of the hands of a new-born child, your nephew or niece  of the incredible perfection, delicacy of the hands of a child. Once upon a time your hands were the same size.
Think of all that your hands have done since then. Almost all that you have learned is through your hands turning yourself over, crawling and creeping, walking and balancing yourself.; learning to hold something for the first time; feeding yourself; washing and bathing, dressing yourself. At one time your greatest accomplishment was tying your own shoes.

Think of all the learning your hands have done and how many activities they have mastered, the things that they have made. Remember the day you could write your own name.

Our hands were not just made for themselves but for others. How often were they given to help another. Remember all the kinds of work they have done, the tiredness and aching they have known, the cold and the heat, the soreness and the bruises. Remember the tears they have wiped away, our own or another’s, the blood they have bled, the healing they have experienced. How much hurt, anger and even violence have they expressed and how much gentleness, tenderness and love they have given.

How often they have been folded in prayer; both a sign of their powerlessness and of their power.

There is a mystery which we discover in the hand of a woman or a man that we love. There are the hands of a doctor, a nurse, an artist, a conductor, a priest, hands which you can never forget.

Now raise your right hand slowly and gently place it over your heart. Press more firmly until your hand picks up the beat of your heart that most mysterious of all human sounds, one’s own heartbeat, a rhythm learned in the womb from the heartbeat of one’s own mother. Press more firmly for a moment than release your hand and hold it just a fraction from your clothing. Experience the warmth between your hand and your heart. Now lower your hand to your lap very carefully as if you were carrying your heart. For it does. When you extend your hand to another, it’s not just bone and skin, it is your heart. A handshake is a real heart transplant.

Think of all the hands that have left their imprint on you. Fingerprints and hands that have left their imprint on you. Fingerprints and handprints are heartprints that can never be erased. The hand has its own memory. Think of all the places that carry your handprints and all the people who bear your handprint. They are indelible and will last forever.

Now without opening your eyes begin to write out of your stream of consciousness. Slowly become more aware of your outer extremities. The pressure of the air on your forehead. The sensation of the air touching your fingertips.

Slowly as you are ready become present to your reality once more.

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What does fear look like?

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I was walking home from school,
When I was swooped by a magpie,
I tried to protect myself,
By waving my school bag over my head,
My feet were frozen,
The bird kept swooping,
I kept trying to protect myself,
I didn’t know what to do.

Finally, an older person came to my rescue,
I only needed to move a few yards,
This person helped me take those steps,
Protecting me from the swoops,
Until the magpie could see I was not a danger,
The magpie stopped swooping and I walked home.

Sometimes I still duck when a bird’s shadow passes.

Reflection on Psalm 52

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My Version

My dear enemy,
Why do you think you are so right?
You pretend to care,
While planning selfish destruction,
Words are used to confuse the truth,
Relishing in unleashing each painful barb.

Dear enemy you appear to be powerful,
It’s an illusion and I fear for your future,
When God completes his plan,
Truth will be brought in the daylight,
Self declared truth will be seen as foolishness,
People are already incredulous at your self deception,
Your plan won’t work in the end,
Getting ahead is never about destroying others,
God’s way is about lifting people up.

I choose to put my roots in God,
I choose to trust God,
I choose to praise God,
I choose to put my hope in God,
I choose to declare this daily.

Reflection on Psalm 113

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My Version

This morning I woke and felt happy,
It’s just good to know that God’s in control,
The world’s in turmoil,
People are running around worried about life,
My advice is to look beyond yourself,
Put God in his right place.

When you do this worry is not required,
Your place with God is assured,
It doesn’t matter what others think,
He will reward your trust,
God is like a really good friend,
Giving back much more than you give him.

Love’s shape

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When spirit connects hearts,
Bringing together the eternal and dust,
Spirit and heart embrace,
Creation springs to action,
New life begins,
Shaped by the creator,
With eternity’s voice,
Speaking endearing words,
Of loving intimacy,
Eternal and dust connected forever,
Home is found.

Formed from the formless,
Out of nothing it becomes,
Love’s shape is given a name.

A reflection on Psalm 20

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My Version

Life is full of distress,
It’s a relief to know that God is always with me,
He looks closely at my heart,
To see if my actions come from my love of him.

God wants his children to be happy,
He wants us to shout out our praises to him,
Praises that come from a heart of thankfulness,
Praises that see God’s provision,
Praises that cannot be kept to ourselves.

Here’s what I know to be true,
This is because I’ve seen God do these things,
There is only one person that is totally trustworthy,
That’s God,
Follow him and you will not be limited by difficulties,
Opposition has no hope against God,

Lord hear my heart today,
I love seeing your hand at work in my life,
Thank you that you see me through my troubles,
To help me emerge more confident in you.

Reflection on Psalm 110

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My Version of Psalm 110

God speaks lovingly to his child,
Words saying she has a special place in his heart,
When there is conflict everywhere,
When feeling the enemies of doubt and worthlessness,
This is when God’s power will be on display,

God doesn’t fool with his children’s emotions,
His love in constant and ongoing,
He sees you as wonderful and uniquely precious,
His children belong to him.

God is with you my child,
He is waiting to defeat your enemies,
Drink from his words today,
So you are ready to face the day.

Some days it’s good to laugh

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Love and Relationships

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“Some people cannot love you the way you want to be loved, because they are emotionally and spiritually frozen. They recoil from or avoid affection. You will never meet a deep penetrating gaze from their shallow eyes; only a surface glance. They will touch your hand with their hand, but never with their heart. They will serve your body but not your soul.

They can only connect with you through utility, but never passion. If you need cupcakes or a jar opened, they are perfect; if you need compassion or wisdom, you are all alone. They are only a person as society made them, not as nature intended them.

They live life so perfectly, but know nothing of life at all. They did everything they were told to be a good person, but are hardly a person at all. They are empty. They are dead inside. They will break your heart if you let them. They are usually very judgmental. They see themselves as nice but are often mean and cold. They feel themselves superior. They think everything they do is exactly the way it is supposed to be done. They are repeaters. They lack original thought. If you challenge their slumber with awakened thoughts, they will panic and flee. They will make you feel crazy because they only believe what the masses believe. They are the embodiment of the masses, because they have not become their own individual person. Individuation is an attainment of spiritual maturity — frighteningly seldom attained in today’s world. You cannot change these people. They are trapped inside of themselves; stunted.

You will waste your whole life waiting for them to wake-up to the treasure of what you have to offer. You cannot snap them out of their sleep. Only a tragic event will awaken them.”
— Bryant McGill

The importance of mentoring

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Throughout my career, there have been many times when advice, support, and criticism were critical for my own professional development. Sometimes that assistance came from people who were formally tasked with providing advice; a good example is a Ph.D. advisor (in my case, John Aldrich of Duke University, who has been a fantastic advisor and mentor to a long list of very successful students). Sometimes that advice was less formal, coming from senior colleagues, other academics at conferences, and in many cases from peers. The lesson is professional advice and support — or to put it into a single term, mentoring — comes from many different sources and occurs in many different ways.

However, there is growing concern in political science that more mentoring is necessary, that there are scholars who are not getting the professional support and advice that they need to help them with career decisions, teaching, and the publication of their research. There are many good programs that have developed in recent years to help provide more mentoring in political methodology, for example the excellent “Visions in Methodology” program. And the Society for Political Methodology recently approved the foundation of a new professional award, to recognize excellent mentors. But more needs to be done to improve mentoring and mentoring opportunities in academia.

– See more at: http://blog.oup.com/2014/11/mentorship-academic-career-political-science/#sthash.QybfMfbR.dpuf

Reflection on Psalm 37

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My Version

I need to not worry about what others do,
Or think they are getting ahead,
What they create won’t last,
If it doesn’t come from a heart,
Turned to you God.

This is the path God has for us:
Trust in God – Live creatively.
Seek God’s will- Live obediently.
Listen to God – Live attentively.
Don’t worry – Live freely.

God’s opposition don’t have long,
The outcome of their actions,
Will be held to account,
Their words will come back to bite them,
The people that they sought to bring down,
Will be given a place of privilege by God.

It’s great to live life being cared by God,
I’ve seen the outcome of selfishness over and over,
It doesn’t work,
It’s much better to give it away,
Than to tread on others for the sake of selfish ambition.

God knows the reasons for our actions,
He is going to reward those who have sought him,
The day of selfishness is nearly over,
It’s future is short,
Instead seek God and eternity is there to be grasped,
God is waiting to share it with us forever.

Reflection on Psalm 86 – Part One

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My Version

When I consider your goodness Lord,
It highlights my poverty,
I have realised how much I need you,
It’s finally got through my thick head,
That I need your forgiveness,
Without it my life is wretched.

Thank you for restoring me,
You have brought joy to my life again,
By helping me to remember,
That I belong totally to you.

Reflection on Psalm 40

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My Version

Rock bottom is the worst place to go to,
It’s the place where all hope appears to be lost,
I’ve been there.
Making it much worse,
Was that my “friend” wanted to destroy me,
He wanted to see me with nothing,
I am glad he will reap what was sown,
His actions are his shame,
I trust God’s wisdom in sorting out what was done to me,
I am not worried about it any more,
My life has taken a new turn,
It’s the God shaped life,
That can’t be touched by anyone.

When I was really down,
I cried out to you,
I couldn’t help myself,
I was a total mess,
I needed someone to rescue me,

Compared to other offers of help,
God’s help has no ulterior motive,
I will declare this to anyone who will listen,
God now you are my first choice.
I should have known better,
Than to trust anyone but you,
You don’t care what I think I can do,
It’s all about what you do for me,
My life is a witness to your power and provision.

This is my declaration to the whole world,
My God is my Saviour,
He delivered me from despair,
Now I live with hope as my constant companion.

Michael Faraday – Self Deception

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“The force of the temptation which urges us to seek for such evidence and appearances as are in favour of our desires, and to disregard those which oppose them, is wonderfully great. In this respect we are all, more or less, active promoters of error. In place of practising wholesome self-abnegation, we ever make the wish the father to the thought: we receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us; whereas the very reverse is required by every dictate of common sense.”

Faraday

Broken-hearted

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An open heart that embraces life,
Is a yearning to see more,
Of the Beloved’s intention,
To create a place that can be shared,
By, hopeful trust,
Shared among friends.

A heart broken,
Is a heart that tasted life,
The yearning turning to aching,
Beloved’s intention thwarted by mine,
Shared places taken by selfish intent,
Broken dreams,
Lived with strangers.

A heart broken open,
To experience more of life,
Yearning and aching to understand,
All of love’s capacity
To feel it’s painful care,
Life’s fullness
Waiting to be shared.

Reflection on Psalm 36

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My Version

Some people choose a path of self destruction,
They don’t care about you God,
Because they think more about themselves,
Elevating their own importance,
Flattering themselves by crushing others.

Sooner or later the truth comes out,
They trap themselves in their own lies,
Ensnared in a deceitful path,
They fight its death trap,
Even when they try to sleep,
The truth of their actions haunt every waking hour.
Evil has its consequences,
Sooner or later its perpetrator’s,
Will face the music.

Short term gain is not the right path,
for those who love God with all their hearts,
I will take your protection every day,
Trying to save myself is too hard,
You are the one that saves.

This love is returned a hundred times my God,
You will protect me against the proud,
I am protected by your word to me,
That says I am your  child,
There is nothing that I don’t control,
Trust me to protect you.

The time is fast coming,
Where things are set right,
There will be no escape,
For those who choose to reject you.

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Reflection on Psalm 35

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My Version

Why do some people seem hell-bent on my destruction?
They are well armed,
Wielding their weapons of mass destruction,
Against me personally.
What do I do with my enemies God?

I don’t wish ill on anyone yet I still have enemies,
God I am turning to you to protect me.
When someone comes against me,
With attacks that don’t let up,
Even when they have me down,
They keep coming with more vindictiveness,
Watching for every opportunity
To put in the knife,
Stabbing me in the back,
Twisting it to cause maximum pain,
This is really is an attack against you, God.

For a long time,
I thought you were ignoring me,
Enemies were gloating at my distress,
I was trying to do my best,
My best was never good enough,
Every little failure was an opportunity,
To twist that knife a little more,
To make sure that I could never feel good.

One day justice will be done,
All in your good time God,
You will turn their gloating into a cry for help,
Lies will be exposed,
Truth will win out in the end,
This will be your opportunity God,
To set things right.

In the meantime,
I will keep serving you wholeheartedly,
I will keep trusting you have my best interests,
This will be an opportunity to tell others about you.

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Perspective

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The mountain is,
The interminable climb,
Tired muscles, painful breaths,
To get to the top.
Or,
It’s the awesome view,
The soul renewing outlook,
That was waiting to be reached.

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