by James Webb
This post marks the first year anniversary of The Listening Book blog. I’ve been scribbling on this page once a week for a whole year now. It would be a good time to stop and reflect on what’s happened over the past twelve months, but I’m not going to do that. “What has happened in the past year?” is a good question, but a more important one is “Am I a better man than I was this time last year?” Read more
He doesn’t make it easy for us. In John 10 you can read about a group who came to Jesus to ask him a question.
“Are you the Messiah, Jesus? Give us a straight answer. No games now. Yes or no. Are you the one?”
They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
John 6:42
I’m not one who enjoys change, but I do quite like new beginnings. One of the best things about going to university was being able to leave the past behind. No longer would I be defined by my school’s social hierarchy – I could reinvent myself and start all over again!
Like all the best people, I’m prone to self-pity. “Why me…?” I might say, or maybe “Everyone else has it better than me…” or “They never have problems, unlike me…” and sometimes “Why can’t I just get a break?” etc. It feels quite good, but it’s really just a way of saying, “Life isn’t treating me the way that I’m entitled to be treated”, and as such self-pity is nothing more than cleverly disguised pride. Well, for me, at least. I’m sure that for you your whining is entirely justified. Read more
