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Yes, yes, that’s exactly right for how I’ve been feeling over this last year!!!
thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!
bless your heart, bk!
how true…
What’s the bet that’s someone I know at the base of my tree!
That’s too funny!!
There’s either somebody really there with the chainsaw or I BELIEVE there is
Ah the sound of the chainsaw, living in the country its an all too familiar sound only I can hear that chainsaw in my head too. I can only hope for two things, one is inevitable.
1. That she or he has a proper chainsaw qualification LANTRA or equivalent.
2. That when my tree falls it will land on their head. (cruel I know sorry)
4. I agree – I know the construction crew waiting to build a fancy tree house out of my tree. Durn it.
What if it’s me at the bottom too?
9. Robb, pointed, perceptive and brilliant!
Got me thinking, though, that it’s kind of good to kick the stool from under yourself from time to time. Like the Douglas Adams quote about how to fly (throw yourself at the ground and miss).
Keeps everything provisional.
I once visited a church at which members stood up and made prophecies, and one of the prophets said that God was like a big chainsaw. (In the sense that God makes it easier for us to face daunting tasks such as cutting down huge trees).
At the time I thought he had completely lost it — I associated chainsaws primarily with the destruction of rainforests. But there are other ways to use chainsaws — some of them might even be positive.
PS When I looked at the web site today, I could only see the top of the cartoon, so it was not until I scrolled down that I saw the chainsaw. Was that deliberate design?!
Oh, yes…
@Robb – very good point. Though how on earth to you manage to be in 2 places at once?
In the early churches language Jesus was seen as sacrifice on the temple altar and the hight priest. How did he manage to be in both places at once?
I guess I must be a metaphore for myself
I was on top of the tree yesterday and the forester arrived this morning!
Wow, are there people who feel like they’re on top of things?
Kim – when you think about it ‘feeling on top of things’ is relative…and often it is just a feeling, a fleeting one at that…
..how right on spot and identifiable this one’s again..
I place the bet with Poetvet @ 5..I guess just the fact it ARE people we know (or thought we knew..;-)), is just what makes this situation so painful and sad..
But Thank God He turns out to be the God of the “But God”..s
And so eventhough I get (and will be getting) crushed in the fall, there’s the quiet KNOWING that my Jehova Jireh will wait JUST down there to strongly catch me, patiently cradle me and lovingly heal my hurt..
there I was just tidying things up… a little strategic thinking… getting the left hand knowing what the right hand was doing…
.. and all of a sudden, I find these trees falling around me and my friends bumped and bruised having been at the top of the trees just moments before I started tidying up…
What if it is God at the bottom of the tree?
Then it depends which tree you’re up, Robb!
Exactly!!
so true.
so very true.
and Robb, i wonder if you’re right. maybe it is me at the bottem. hm. who knows.
I think you are merely like a metaphore for yourself, Robb. =]
God is an excellent tree surgeon: ‘The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength.”‘ From judges.
The rest of us? not always so good. I am glad that Jesus does not break bruised reeds.
just imagine if church leaders really did encourage the rest of us. i feel so uncomfortable when the leadership seem to be ‘establishing their own authority’.
taking a chain saw to one’s feet might be less painful than being in line for the leaderships death charge
- why am i assuming it’s the leadership down their with the chain saw?, i know i got decimated last summer, but that was just one incident. – please can a few people share some positive stories of being actively and powerfully encouraged, just so i can get a bit more balance, cheers
Subo – that is all I try to do!
cheers Robb
Subo (#25) — I would love to give a story of encouragement, but I don’t feel particularly positive about “church leaders” at present, having attended an Ash Wednesday service last night at which the preacher seemed to be full of bitterness and negativity about human beings in general. Whatever point he was trying to make, he left me thinking the following:
a) there are extremely positive ways of using the same readings — why did he take such a negative approach?
b) was he suffering from depression?
I wanted to speak to him afterwards, but he rushed off too quickly.
ah, rebecca, it’s a relief to hear it’s not just me, would be good to hear of any ways forward
9. Robb – spot on – EVERY time I sit down to write a book, the you-know-what hits the fan. And because I’m on deadline, stressed, etc., I contribute to the situation AS I am writing a book exposing religious hypocrisy. Yep, while I am on top, I still manage to grab the chainsaw and do some damage.
We must have all been given this at some point in our lives and asked to pick which one represents us.
A lecturer I had always used a peanuts analogy about Charlie Brown going to see Lucy as a psychiatrist. She tells him that life is like a cruise liner. There are those who are always placing their deckchair at the front so that they can see where they are going to. Others place their deckchair at the back so that they can see where they have been. “Where do you place your deckchair Charlie Brown?”
“I can’t even get my deckchair to open”.
Robb – I was thinking of the blob tree, too! I love that! Now tell me – did Pip Wilson and Ian Long’s blob tree come first or the jelly baby tree? You know, we use ASBO in the same way as people use the blob tree – we all find our own unique way to relate to the little characters in these cartoons…great stuff!
Subo (#30) — I must respond to this comment, although I’m reliant on you looking back at what is now the fourth from last cartoon for you to see my response.
The words used at the Ash ceremony are “Remember that you are but dust and to dust you shall return.” The preacher used this to disaffirm the congregation — but what is so bad about it? Where does the dust come from? The answer (and I recommend the book “Big Bang” by Simon Singh if you would like to find out more) is that it is made in the stars. All people, and everything else as well, are quite literally made from stardust. Far from disaffirming, I consider that this is something we can all delight in, and praise God for how amazing creation is — if you weren’t doing that already!
I don’t find the part about returning to dust disaffirming either — nobody wants an untimely death, but what would the world be like if nothing ever died? There’d be no room for anything new — and none of us would be here.
Remember that you are but dust and to dust you shall return — THANKS BE TO GOD. (I did actually say that on Wednesday).
I was taken out in front of all my peers and given a damn good ashing.
“All people, and everything else as well, are quite literally made from stardust”
amen rebecca