A Curious Girl: Keep listening, keep talking

Had an interesting discussion with Stephen this afternoon about diaries. In his 'diary' he's completely objective, impersonal. He said that he thought that these online diaries can be a bad thing, as they can be an excuse not to talk to people about stuff that's bothering you. And I know what he means - that sometimes you wish you could hear people's voices talking to you, not just listen to them yelling off at the world.

It's rather ironic that I'm using my diary to tell people not to use diaries, but that isn't quite my aim. Diaries are good for venting your feelings, for hearing about people you could never meet. But don't use them as a slot for letters from behind a locked closet door.

And what else? Well, I guess I use my diary because it listens when I want it to, and I can stop talking whenever I want. Wouldn't it be nice if we were all like that? I'm not giving a personal plea - I know that there are plenty of people who'll listen to me. I'm lucky like that. Maybe I'm the one who should listen more. So many people would talk if we just offered a listening ear, Diaryland is practically proof of that. And talking too - maybe there are more people willing to listen to us than we realise.

Don't just write diaries. Talk, listen, communicate. I like to hear you with my ears, not the ears of the masses, I like to talk to you as you are, not just as a member of a crowd.

Yeah, I know I don't exactly follow my message. I'll try harder.

Sorry to everyone who missed my last entry which I deleted, and got the notice saying they'd missed it. It was the kind of thing that could easily be misunderstood.

Oh yes and it's Spiritual Revelation time! Aren't you lucky peeps? Remember the parable of the talents? King is going away, gives servants money, servants spend money well except one who buries money and King fires him? Well, that parable always annoyed me. For one thing, money always makes me kind of nervous, and as it is, Jesus wasn't/isn't mad about it either. And it always seemed to lay a terrible burden on me about talents. I mean, every now and again, teachers go on about how I'm not reaching my potential, and great, I'm the third servant once again. If God wants me to develop all my talents, I'm never gonna get there, simply because I'd never be happy with my standard. But I read it today and read "Because you were loyal with small things, I will let you care for much greater things." Matt 25:21. I remembered that Christina said something about how the real meaning of the parable was how if you could trust people with 50p you could trust them with 50 pounds, but that didn't seem particularly spiritual to me at the time. And then I realised - yes the money was symbolic, but it wasn't just 'talents' but 'work' we are given to do - how we respond to our opportunities to spread God's love (the more you give, the more it grows). Maybe he only gives us small opportunities, like litter clearing or painting, or maybe he makes you one of the greatest evangelists of all time, but it doesn't matter as long as you spread his love and let it grow. He doesn't expect us to lead vast crowds to Christ armed only with a litter picker and a black sack, but he does expect us to do his work the best we can. And then I read about the Son of Man coming with his angels, (Matt 25:31) and saw the way he judged the people - he judged them by how they responded to the sick, the hungry, the poor, the unfortunate, and said that whatever we do to the least of us, we do to him.

Yeah, I know I'm slow that I've only picked up the real meaning of the Noise now, but the rather startling simplicity of the truth has now hit me. He wants us to do good. And that's it, my darlings. Nothing complicated about that is there? You know the two greatest commandments - Love God, and then love everyone else. And things just follow from there.

It reminded me of the poem Ms. Leoni read when she left.

Rules of Conduct

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can

Good old John Wesley.

I'm feeling challenged. Can only be a good thing really :-)

Random word for today:

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