... a 'log - speck moment'

Well here I was chuntering away to myself about how no-one in Oxford had posted anything recently... and then I realised I was the worst offender of all - as my long-lost friend Nicki Johnson used to say a 'log - speck moment'...

so for better or worse here I am again, what shall pearls of wisdom should I share with my 'many' eager readers?

Well, today I've started a course called 'Spiritual Formation for Leadership' (which I'm sure Jim would be fascinated by, being a training consultant) - it runs over 8 weeks for a full day each time - including a 45 minute 1-2-1 interview! After the introduction today, one of the things we started exploring was the power of our imagination, through an imaginative exercise which will be analysed and used to explore our personalities in the 1-2-1's.

What struck me particularly from the tutor's observations about the importance of the imagination was that:

• We are always talking about God in metaphorical/imaginative language - that the truth we perceive about 'Him' can never be complete, or completely expressed, whatever language we use. Which of course doesn't take much thought to realise, however I've never explicitly put that in the context of thinking about the power of the imagination!
• Our behaviour is constantly determined by what we imagine our future to be - i.e. by making it happen
• Faith is an exercise of the imagination about things we cannot fully see now and in the future ... as I write it down it sounds like that's a dismissal of the truth of what we believe in, but it's not, it's more an acknowledgement of the limits of what we can perceive.
  

So, all very interesting stuff. I'm very glad to have got started - having seen people go through the course last term made me both excited and apprehensive, as they took a deep look into themselves and their leadership styles. The participants mostly enthused about it, but also looked pretty blasted by the whole experience, as I suppose I will when I spend time looking into the complex darkness of my soul!

On a completely different tack, I've recently had the very disconcerting experience of two people tell me I'm trendy!!! Which couldn't be further from my self-perception - I always think of myself as a rather plodding, middle-of-the-road type, accidently stranded amongst trendy types (especially at church)... maybe it's the context of being at theological college... I won't try and elaborate on that, otherwise I'll unintentionally insult my fabulous colleagues for whom I have the utmost respect and affection:)