What is your favorite quote?
Rather than a quote – let’s face it, this blog is full of quotes – I share with you my favourite prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner
It is called the Jesus Prayer. It has become part of life and is a presence all the time. I pray this prayer at night when I wake and during the day. It is just part of life!
If you had to give one life-changing tip, what would it be?
I do not like giving advice to anyone. But if someone asked me for one tip?!
Worry about what is in your control! And the only person you control is you. Anything or anyone outside of that control needs to worry about themselves. You control you!
Yes I have learned that the hard way. And yes I am terrible at it. Other people make choices that are outside of my control and hence outside of my worry.
One tip only!
I am not sure if this is a skill but here it goes. I know how to praying using the Book of Common Prayer. I have used it for most my adult life so it is second nature. And not just the one but most of them! I also know how to use the Anglican Breviary and the English Missal. A skill without use.
Uh, I’d like a petit filet mignon, very lean; not so lean that it lacks flavor, but not so fat that it leaves drippings on the plate. And I don’t want it cooked; just lightly seared on either side, pink in the middle; not true pink, but not a mauve either, something in between; bearing in mind, the slightest error either way, and it’s ruined.
Niles Crane
Do you think everything happens for a reason?
Oh wow!!! Too much.
So let me change the prompt a little: is there a mind behind everything? Yes! Is there a person who loves me and orders things? Yes. But … and this is a HUGE BUT … that does not remove my accountability for my actions.
I am not a fan of the idea of “fate”. Yes, reason but also accountability.
Anyway …
What’s your home decoration style?
I want to say Russian hermitage. But, in reality, random messy! With stacks of books in random places.
What’s a song lyric that has stuck with you forever?
That is somewhat easy: Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. It is the title track from first album I purchased. Have always loved it and even more in recent times.
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell
blue skies from pain
Can you tell a green field
from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?And did they get you to trade
your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
a walk on part in the war
for a lead role in a cage?How I wish, how I wish you were here
We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl
year after year
Running over the same old ground
What have you found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here
There was a prompt, “What is your biggest dream?” I wrote “to be alone“. But this says it much better than I can!!!!!
I feel some dejavu with this prompt!?
Another book I would rewrite, only a little, is Conclave by Robert Harris. It is a magnificent book, very descriptive and captivating. But it just did not need that ending. (A little Captain Obvious.)
But maybe it did and I just did not get it.
What’s your biggest dream?
To seek Jesus in solitude and silence. To live the life of a hermit. To pray and fast. To wait on the Lord. To be forgotten by the world. To learn humility.
PS: If you reading this, click on this post which says it much better.
a fool and his prayer book 