life is like a box of chocolates

addidges

/ nukelearfishing67 / Leave a comment

Some words start to sound funny when you say them out loud a few times. They may start off sounding fine, but when you repeat them they start to take on a different audio character.

dictionaryTry these (repeat them slowly out loud 4 or 5 times):

Bliss

Grumbling

Indulge

Adage

I hope that you are doing this, especially if you are reading this bloggage in a public place. Hehehe.

Adage is not only a word that starts to sound funny, it’s not even pronounced how it’s spelt. It should be ‘add ayj’ but it’s often pronounced ‘addidge’.

An adage is a saying that becomes accepted as true over a period of time, often observations about life and human behaviour.Here are a few adages:

“My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” – Forrest Gump

“No peace for the wicked” Isaiah 48:22, Isaiah 57:21

“Pride goes before a fall” Proverbs 16:19

I want to start off some new addidges:

“Life is like eating a box of chocolates on a sunny day. We all come to a sticky end.”

“No peas for those with pea allergies.”

“Gravity goes with a fall”

“When things go wrong there’s not always anyone to blame, but anyone can be involved in making it better.”

“To become a wise old person you need to live a long time and listen more than you speak.”

How does something become an adage – how widely does it have to be accepted? How long does it take before something becomes an adage?

Based on a glance at social media it seems that some people live by adages – they find an apt saying to go with a photo of a kitten and it goes ‘viral’ so that suddenly it’s a new adage to live by.

What are your adages? What is the truth that underpins your life?

Be blessed, be a blessing.

 

sweet reflections

/ nukelearfishing67 / Leave a comment

Perhaps because of the stacks of boxes and tins of chocolates in the stores for Christmas I was reminded today of what Forrest Gump famously said: “My momma always said, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.'”

(I know Forrest Gump is a fictional character in a film, so in fact it was the scriptwriters and author articulated by Tom Hanks, but that is not such a striking statement!)

The quotation from his momma is cute, it’s moving but it’s not true because most boxes of chocolates have a card or a ‘menu’ that shows what the different chocolates will be.

I wonder if a more accurate statement comparing life to a box of chocolates might be: “Life is like a box of chocolates, sooner or later we all come to a sticky end.”

But that’s a bit maudlin for this time of year isn’t it?

However, there is some truth in what ‘momma’ said – there is uncertainty in life, particularly about the future. We all live in the present. We can’t change that without a Tardis (search for Doctor Who online if you don’t know what one of those is). We are unable to move from living in the present moment, even though that moment is constantly moving along the line we call ‘time’. It is now a different time from when you started reading this bloggage (and some of you may be wondering why you have wasted that time!) but you are still in the present. We are shaped and affected by events that are now in the past, and we plan for the future, but we are bound to live only in the present. And we don’t know for certain what the future holds for us. We never know what we’re gonna get.

One more reflection on chocolates (or assortments of sweets generally). I usually find that there is one or more of the assorted confectionery that I don’t really like (especially coffee or cherry). But they are there anyway, mixed in with the ones I do like.

In that sense life is like a box of chocolates – it’s a mixture of things we like and things we don’t. But instead of complaining about the chocolates we don’t like in our life, how about we ask the One who gave us the chocolates in the first place to give us an attitude of gratitude for the ones we do?

Be blessed, be a blessing.

wise words?

/ nukelearfishing67 / Leave a comment

“Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get.” (Forrest Gump*).

Except that if you have the leaflet that comes with the box of chocolates you have a good idea about what you are gonna get. Perhaps this is more accurate:

“Life is like a box of chocolates: we all come to a sticky end.” (Nick Lear)

The internet seems full of pithy sayings and clever pieces of advice. This morning I have received this African proverb from two different sources:

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

bible genesis

I also came across some words from J John about reading the Bible, which seemed quite appropriate to what I am saying tomorrow night at the Expedition Through the Bible. He suggests that reading the Bible without God’s Spirit is like eating a dry biscuit while walking in the desert (or something like that, I can’t find it again now).

That’s clever and amusing but I wonder if it’s not more like driving a car with an empty fuel tank: you’re not going to get very far. God’s Spirit is the one who inspired people to write down the words we have in the Bible, so he’s the best one to be able to inspire us as we read them. Without him the words, as brilliant and amazing as they are, will not take us anywhere. Without him the Bible is simply (!) an astonishing collection of ancient literature that gives good advice for life along the lines of Forrest Gump.

With him, God speaks through the words, and applies them to us, so that he inspires, encourages, comforts, challenges, teaches, blesses, corrects, guides, nurtures…

Don’t stop reading the Bible, but make sure you put some fuel in the tank before you do!

Be blessed, be a blessing.

*Yes, I know he is quoting his ‘Mumma’ but he is the one who articulates it in the film