Sleep is one of God’s good gifts. Most of us chug though life without thinking much about it, which is usually a sign that we’re getting enough. But for some of us, that blissful enjoyment of the half-regarded treasure we know as a ‘good night’s sleep’ is shattered for some reason.
Archives: jennie-baddeley
Top 10 Tips for Sleep Deprived Prayer
Life
There are so many reasons for losing sleep it’s not really worth listing them. You’re either getting enough sleep or you’re not. And if you aren’t, an awful lot of the Christian life can feel very difficult indeed. Shorter tempers, less self-control, sense of life being out of control, feeling sorry for oneself, irritable, unkind, not listening… Sleep is such a good gift from God if only because it makes so many, many things easier. Prayer is one such thing. What can we do when we aren’t praying because we aren’t getting the sleep we need?
An attempted collect on the regulation of bodily functions
Life
Why the need for a collect on the regulation of bodily functions?
It’s because people like me do actually pray—often with some fervour—about the bodily functions of the children for whom they are responsible. That’s right, we pray about the absence, presence, frequency, infrequency, texture, colour and quantity of poo. We do it mostly because such things can flag a problem in young children—especially when they are only a few weeks old (at least that’s why I pray about such things; others may have different reasons).
Surprised by grief
Life
Grief, like joy, is full of surprises. Unlike joy, most of grief’s surprises are unwelcome, and make the whole experience worse. One of these surprises, I have discovered, is that grief addles the mind with lies and tricks—for example,
- Am I a Christian?
- I will never pray again.
- What possible thing did I do to deserve this?
- God has stopped speaking to me through his word.
- Does God even exist?
They trip through the mind like so many bedraggled beggar children, creating confusion and clatter, and refusing to exit the premises.
Self-knowledge for godliness and ministry (Part 3)
Pastoral Ministry
As Mark has indicated, this little gig is looking at the ‘knowing ourselves’ part of the knowing God/knowing ourselves learning curve we are all involved in. One of the things that has recently surfaced again for me is the ubiquitous personality test—mostly because they have been pattering about all over Facebook like so many hobbits. So I thought it might be time to evaluate these critters again, and work out their strengths and weaknesses. Having a tool is all very well, but we need to be sure we’re using it correctly and not (to use a metaphor) digging a hole with a hammer.
The nuts and bolts of forgiveness
Life
How do you know you have forgiven someone? How can you be certain that you’ve forgiven someone who has wronged you? (more…)
Redundant prayer?
Up front
The Church of England in the UK has released a prayer for those who have been made redundant (along with other prayers for people affected in other ways by the financial crisis).1. It has been fascinating to hear various clergy on the radio here in the UK answer the question ‘why?’ as people have queried how this prayer can be of any benefit to anyone. The impression left by most of the sound bites I’ve heard or read have gone along the lines of “We need to give people the words to share with God how they are feeling”. (more…)
Redundant prayer?
The Church of England in the UK has released a prayer for those who have been made redundant (along with other prayers for people affected in other ways by the financial crisis). It has been fascinating to hear various clergy on the radio here in the UK answer the question ‘why?’ as people have queried how this prayer can be of any benefit to anyone. It’s a question that has at its heart the deeper question of ‘Why bother praying at all?’, and so provides a great opportunity to call people to repentance and faith in Jesus. It hasn’t been used as such, as far as I can tell, but it is always difficult to know how people have been edited. Certainly the impression given by most of the sound bites I’ve heard or read have gone along the lines of, “We need to give people the words to share with God how they are feeling”.