Posts filed under 'Life'
Today, I attended a baptism at the home church of my childhood. It was a very moving service – come to think of it, I think all services should be baptismal services; it tends to provide the right focus that really should be present at any divine service, but for some reason is not always there.
For me, it was a personal experience as well. Seldom has it been that hard to sing ‘all to Jesus I surrender’. But I did sing it, and it felt good. About 1/3 of the song’s durations, I think I had to keep quiet in order to manage the river of tears that was wanting to run uncontrollably down my cheeks. Now, I just feel like sleeping.
I don’t know why I have to experience hardship (or for that matter why we all do), or, maybe I have some idea, but regardless, I believe God has a plan for me, plans for something better. The hardest part is probably patience while He does His stuff.
“Du kaldte mig, o Jesus,
nu kommer jeg til dig.
Jeg slipper alt mit eget,
jeg overgiver mig”
(Danish baptismal hymn from memory)
P.S. If the timestamp is confusing, I wrote some on this yesterday and some today :p
juni 8th, 2008
Getting out of the metro today, while taking the escalator up to the surface, I got a glimpse of a little goodbye scene. A woman was smiling, crying, waving at her family; four persons standing outside by a pram and waving back.
I instantly got a flashback to the opening scene of ‘Love Actually’:
“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion love actually is all around.”
maj 25th, 2008
Sunday was a very traumatic day for the teddy-bear whose name I have been instructed not to blog. Had he not been ruthlessly abandoned in the room, he would have seen her face in the back of the car, slowly fading away into the horizon…
But this bear is determined. So he decided to pack, commandeer an airplane and go after her.
Not long after, he was sitting at the airport, having his boarding pass ready, carefully packing his liquids for security.
Once in the departure lounge, he decided to rest a bit.
Then, for a much needed breakfast – ‘healthy breakfast’ with a freshly squeezed orange juice and a nice decaf espresso 
Before he could get onto the plane, the bear had to sit and wait a bit…
Then, finally in the plane. He did get a bit anxious over flying the ‘new’ Axis Airlines, having booked a ticket with Sterling, but shrugged it off.
Ah, finally, home. No, wait, what is this – this is not … Ah, well, he does seem to enjoy himself.
Bear sitting at the computer, pondering when he will be able to escape, and pursue his rightful owner…
maj 21st, 2008
Having become quite fond of the Myers-Briggs personality inventory as slightly modified by David Keirsey, I have started seeing the world in terms of NF’s, NT’s, SJ’s and SP’s – and of course the more nuanced types, making for a total of 16 different compositions, in the 4 main groups. Let there be no doubt about it; this helps me greatly in looking at the world. If this does not make any sense to you, I might blog a bit more about the whole concept, but for now, I am struggling with the question of idealising personality traits.
The basic premise of most of the type inventories are that everyone is unique, and that there is nothing wrong with having your particular traits. For instance, that I am an introvert is not objectively good or bad, it’s just me. And in the same way, the unique combination of different traits that make up the person I am, is not good nor bad, it’s just who I am. And I can follow the premises of the theory thus far.
However, I am left with a nagging sense of uneasiness when we tend to idealise all the traits of our personality. Or rather, what I might be trying to say is that from a Christian perspective, we as human-beings are not inherently good. In fact, we often tend to be the opposite, though I believe that we by God’s grace can be enabled to do very much good, and become transformed beings (generally speaking, not going into deep theological debate).
The problem as I see it, when we go into very detailed descriptions of our traits and proclaim all types as being very good and different, is that it may be difficult to point out the weaknesses in our personalities (if everything is seen as a strength), and identify them as inherent weaknesses we need to work on. (I am not challenging the use of personality type as a descriptive tool, but maybe rather arguing that we should not attempt to use it as a normative tool to declare everything as ‘okay’. Or as an NT friend recently put it – ‘where is the room for growth?’ I didn’t understand what she meant at the time, but now I’m beginning to)
For instance, the fact that I as an NF-type person tend to be much in touch with my feelings and has a deep emotional capability, does not necessarily mean that I should never let my thinking or reason guide the way I feel (even though as I’m writing it, it just feels very very wrong to write something like that 
). Or the SP-type’s easygoing tendency does not necessarily mean that they should follow every impulse without evaluating on it first. Or that if a personality type has problems in communicating, that it should just be ascribed to – ‘this is my personality type, live with it’.
Obviously, when I’m looking at the world, I tend to idealise many of my own traits, and see the propensities in other types as weaker or less ‘right’. This, I need to work on.
But still, I am wondering – is there such a thing as objectively good when talking about personality? Probably not. But it would be nice with a normative, not-to-simple, balanced, model which could offer some advise on dealing with the strengths and weaknesses in our particular make-up. Right now, it can quickly become ‘anything goes’ as an excuse for not dealing with our shortcomings (mine included).
Does this make sense?
maj 15th, 2008
I just picked up my most secret folder (the real thing, not the computer-kind) and did some cleaning out.
It’s been a long time since I’ve touched that folder, and even longer since I’ve taken time to see what was in it.
Somehow, when you suddenly see things that lie years in the past, from a distance, you can become scared.
I became scared. Scared that I would do what I have done. Quantifying people’s qualities in order to best satisfy my own needs. (amongst other things)
Cleaning out felt good. Now there is a pile of torn-up paper lying on my bed. This pile goes out today.
Remaining in the folder are the good memories. The good times. The happy, loving, letters. This is how it should be.
maj 7th, 2008
(yupp, it’s a Danish song)
I Danmark er jeg født, dér har jeg hjemme,
der har jeg rod, derfra min verden går.
Du danske sprog, du er min moders stemme,
så sødt velsignet du mit hjerte når.
Du danske, friske strand,
hvor oldtids kæmpegrave
stå mellem æblegård og humlehave.
Dig elsker jeg! – Dig elsker jeg!
Danmark, mit fædreland!
- H.C. Andersen
april 25th, 2008
Today, as I was walking early in the morning around Newbold, I had a real Lion King moment.
I looked to the field, saw 4 deer standing, and found myself going: ‘Nants ingonyama bagithi baba’
And just as in the movie (where I think it’s an antelope or zebra, but still), one of the deer raised its head and looked towards me.
So I kept going: ‘Ingonyama Ingonyama nengw’ enamabaal’ (which I’ve just now discovered mean ‘it’s a lion and a tiger’)
And suddenly I felt the sun rising to my right, and surely, when I looked, there it was. Admittedly, the little red dot was not as impressive as the African sunrise depicted in Lion King, but still.
It was my Lion King moment
april 23rd, 2008
Somehow today, two promises made in my lifetime stood clearly before me.
The first one was ‘that’s not going to happen. Mommy and daddy are never going to be divorced’. As a young boy, I clung to this all the way up until it happened.
The second one: ‘Jonas, I will always, always, always. Always, always be your friend’.
april 23rd, 2008
Doing a biblical studies paper these days on the epistle to the Romans. Been working somewhat with most of the letter.
Academically, there might be more of interest in the Jewish-Gentile polemics, but for myself, I can’t help but think a bit about Romans 8.
Life in the Spirit. It seems very accessible. Not even just accessible, but something that is – not only should be, but is – a reality to Jewish as well as Gentile Christians (basically everyone).
So is it just a choice? Can we just choose to live in the Spirit, and God will supply the rest? What does this mean?
Somehow, the questions tend to become larger in number than the answers.
It sounds really good though. Imagine living a truly Romans 8 life…
(might I just add, in case some should be tempted to jump to simplistic conclusions, that much is said in the chapters previous to number 8 about being justified only through faith)
april 21st, 2008
I pity
the people
who does not see
they have a choice.
I pity
the people
who are unable
to expand their vision
and see
that life does not
have to be this way.
I pity
the people
who take no
responsibility
whatsoever
over their actions,
feelings,
thoughts.
Maybe,
just maybe,
I pity,
myself?
(04:30 AM)
april 7th, 2008
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