If you are convinced that you should read more books, where might you start? If you realise that your intellectual diet has been the equivalent of fast food for a long time, where can you go for something more substantial? The temptation when you notice that something needs changing is to change too much at …
Reading seems to be a lost art these days. It is so easy to get busy with all kinds of things and never get around to it. And when we do have time to relax, so often it is scrolling through social media or binge watching the latest series on Netflix. If we want to …
As you reflect on 2023, how did your year turn out? How do you judge if it is a good year or a bad year? One measure is financial: did you meet your budget or your goals? Another is by achievement: did you get everything done that you hoped to? These are the kinds of …
Everyone I speak to at the moment tells me that they are busy. And it’s true; for many of us, December is a crazily busy time of year. There are work deadlines to meet. If you have children at school, you will have concerts to go to, graduation ceremonies, and end of year excursions. There …
The famous parable of the talents in Matthew 25 sounds a lot like it is teaching some kind of salvation by works. After all, three servants are given money to use. When the master returned, the two who used that money well were rewarded and welcomed into the master’s happiness. The one who did not …
Have you ever borrowed someone’s car or looked after their house while they have been on holidays? While it is a blessing to have use of a car or house that you don’t usually have, we feel the responsibility of it. We are nervous that something might go wrong with this important and expensive thing …
The great dream of many people is a life of leisure. It sounds good, doesn’t it? Sitting back, doing whatever you want (or nothing at all). If only we had enough money to spend our lives like that, most of us think that this would make us happy. It’s not true. We are made to …
We so easily slip into comparing ourselves with others. We notice the cars others drive and draw conclusions about them based on the suburb they live in or the occupation they work in. Magazines work on the principle that we would all like to live like the rich and famous, lazing about on yachts rather …
There are so many different concepts of what a good life looks like. Many would define it as being able to do whatever you want. Others would say that it is having enough money to buy a standard of living that brings comfort and safety. Still others would say living for your family and knowing …
John Lennon urged us to imagine a world where there is no heaven and no religion. In his opinion, this would be a world where everyone lived in peace and there would be no greed or hunger. Freedom from the oppressive burden of God would inevitably lead to a good life in so many ways. …