Category: April AtoZ

B is for Bibliomancy

On By auntyamoIn April AtoZ, Getting to grips with God stuff11 Comments

BHere’s another thing that I didn’t realise was an actual thing. Bibliomancy

The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms says that Bibliomancy is: the practice of opening the Bible at random and seeking guidance through the first verse one sees. In quite a few sources it’s described as ‘divination by means of a book.’

When I was a new Christian, it took a while for me to grasp what the Bible was and wasn’t. So I often did let it fall open on a page and read a verse to see if I could get a lightning quick response to a question. I don’t think I ever landed on anything that made sense to my particular query. Over time. I found that reading, understanding and listening to the Word of God gave insight into situations and comfort in times of trouble. Doing an ‘eenie, meenie, miney mo’ never did anything for me.

In my search about this term I found that, though it dates back to ancient Greece, it’s still a common practice. It all sounds a bit magic 8 ball-ish to me. And it’s poor use of a fabulous resource. Like preparing and firing up a space shuttle to get to the local shop for a pint of milk. It was built for so much more.

I believe the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12); and so it has to be handled carefully. I love having scripture verses on fridge magnets and on the pages of notebooks; but individual random verses can be and often are taken out of context. If the Bible is a rocket, then fly me to the moon 🙂

A is for Absolutely Astraddle (and ‘Adiaphora’)

On By auntyamoIn April AtoZ, Getting to grips with God stuff9 Comments

AIt’s Day 1 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge and I still haven’t come up with a theme. I considered Bible characters, Bible verses, Hymns or Songs, great theological writers… but I couldn’t decide.

So here I am on day 1 thinking of holy ‘A’ words.

Annmarie…?  nah I don’t think so.

Ann, is a form of Hannah, who I believe was the mother of Mary; and of course, Marie comes from Mary. So, even though Annmarie is made up of the names of Jesus’ mammy and granny, when you put them together you end up with me. That knocks holiness out of play 🙂

However, I had a rummage around for an interesting ‘A’ word that might be closer to holiness than my own name; and I found this word, ‘adiaphora’

TheFreeDictionary.com tells us that it is, “a Christian Protestant theological theory that certain rites and actions are matters of indifference in religion since not forbidden by the Scriptures.”

The concept itself is familiar to me but I didn’t realise it had a name. If you think about it, it’s a big part of Christian life. When we think of guidance for some of the big things we ‘choose’ – spouses, jobs, money, which church to attend etc – there are few hard and fast rules. We know we should work, and should gather together in fellowship, and should be good stewards of what we have – using it wisely etc. But although I know I shouldn’t work in a brothel, there is nothing in the Bible to say that I shouldn’t be a civil servant, accountant, hairdresser or dog groomer.

We’re not told what person to marry, how much is too much to spend on a house, or whether a church is holier with or with or without a pipe organ or drum kit. We’re to use our wisdom and discernment, seeking God’s guidance and will for our lives.  I also believe this connects to preference and diversity. I don’t see all the varied styles of church as disunity or contradiction. I see them as a gift from God. We’re all different and have different likes and bugbears. So He has made a vast range of worship styles and building shapes, so that we can – with all our foibles and oddities – find a place to worship Him in, and a group of people to worship Him with.

So here’s to adiaphora!

I only hope that my search reveals more interesting words for the rest of the alphabet.

Happy A to Z to you all,
Amo x

April AtoZ Challenge…

On By auntyamoIn April AtoZ, Writing, Blogging etcLeave a comment

A2Z badgeI’m going to be missing for a while as I take part in the April AtoZ Challenge over on the blog of my new writer’s website. http://www.annmariemiles.com/blog

Hope to see you there 🙂

ps if you sign up to receive regular updates about my writing and as a thank you for trusting me with your email address I’ll send you two brand new stories written just to celebrate launching the website 🙂

Just go to http://www.annmariemiles.com and drop your email address at the nr the bottom of the homepage.

Thanks, A x

Turn around when possible…

On By auntyamoIn April AtoZ, Getting to grips with God stuff, Random Ramblings1 Comment

You know when you’re about to set off on a journey but the sat nav hasn’t given you your first instruction yet? So you move forward so it knows which way you’re heading and then (usually in my case) it says its favourite words – ‘turn around when possible!’

compassThe start of 2014 has me feeling a little bit nervous about which way I should go. I’ve never had a great sense of direction and have regularly taken wrong turns – even with sat nav help. I’ve been looking back at some blog posts and it seems I’m the same in life. I’ve shared a few posts on this before, not knowing where to go or what to do next. But through the year things happened with God opening some surprising doors and in some cases he closed doors It thought were for me.
2013 has been fantastic though – who would have thought it would turn out like it did?

This seems to be a time for reviews… so here’s my quick look back at 2013. 

Attended the launch of the National Emerging Writer’s Programme and took to some serious writing
Did the AtoZ Challenge & 1City1Book in April
Stopped short of the Masters in Theology and finished with a Post Grad Diploma (so I could go write some other stuff)
Shortlisted for Blog Awards Ireland
Quit @auntyamo on Twitter to re-emerge as @amowriting
Was made redundant from my 9to5 job
Got to be involved in the Red Line & Dublin Book Festivals as well as the Dublin Christian Arts Festival
Completed NaNoWriMo
PUBLISHED A BOOK! with Emu Ink (still ‘whooping’ over that one 😀 )
Prepared myself to say goodbye to my dad for the third time in my life and… he’s still with us.

Most of that stuff was a complete surprise to me and certainly not where I thought I was heading. And I have no idea what is in store for 2014. So all I can do is start moving. I think I know what way to go, but if I’m going the wrong way my prayer is that God will speak to me. God is my ultimate sat nav and I trust Him to direct me and when I go the wrong way, to tell me to ‘turn around when possible.’

Happy New Year everyone, and thanks all your visits and comments in 2013 x

photo credit: gwgs via photopin cc

Not sure if I “like” your “endorsement”, you “follow”?

On By auntyamoIn April AtoZ, Getting to grips with God stuff, Random Ramblings7 Comments

Sincere apologies to anyone who has done this for me, and it doesn’t apply to every one – but I have to ask… What is the story with LinkedIn endorsements?

linked in 2

Cos I am actually scarlet when I get one.

Genuinely…

Red face, cringe, stare at feet – moments!

Now I am a girl who is well able to take a compliment.
You shower me with compliments – I’ll dig out the loofah!
But on LinkedIn???? I not sure I get it.

If you’re reading this and you have endorsed me then you might be harrumphing at my lack of gratitude and I can’t blame you for that. But I’d take those compliments more graciously (and willingly) if I really understood what they were about…?

So here’s why I have some scruples…

1. Is it just a case of Quid pro quo?
I read somewhere that recommendations on LinkedIn lose their value if they are reciprocated. Which is a pain cos I have two great recommendations and yes… they are both reciprocated. If endorsements are about mutual back scratching then I don’t see the point.
It’s different from ‘you follow me, I follow you back’ on social media. Twitter and FB are more about fun and social stuff. LI is a professional network!

2. I have been endorsed by people I’ve never met
I’m sounding more and more ungrateful as I go on amn’t I? :/
But it feels strange to get the thumbs up for a skill by folk I don’t really know. I know people can read the blogs and say they feel I’m good at writing, but there are cases where it’s not as simple as that.

3. I have at least one endorsement for a skill that I KNOW I am not good at
I won’t say which one, in case I cause the endorser (who is probably quite irked with me already!) any further pains. But a couple of times I’ve seen an endorsement and thought – ‘I’m rubbish at that.’

I think it was Rob Parsons of Care for the Family I heard say, something along the lines of, “Remember you’re not as great as you think you are, but you’re not as awful as you think you are either!” I think that’s a healthy attitude and one that is very much in line with Scripture.

Romans 12:3 says, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”

I suppose I’m trying to balance taking a compliment and thinking of myself with ‘sober judgement’. And I can’t tell you why I’m more hung up on LinkedIn endorsements than I am on someone saying of FB or Tw, “Read her stuff, she’s great.”
In fact a few more of those would be nice 🙂

Maybe it’s because it IS a professional network that I’m more iffy about it. I’ve never had a career, just a series of jobs that I’ve loved to a greater or lesser degree. I’m not sure why I even joined LinkedIn to be honest.

Am I alone in this – would love your feedback.
You can be totally honest, say what you like, take me to task, disagree with me, admonish me for being so ungrateful – respond however you’d want; just  make sure to click that ‘like’ button below while you’re there… 😀

photo credit: clasesdeperiodismo via photopin cc

Do you know what ‘Umwelt’ means?

On By auntyamoIn April AtoZ, Writing, Blogging etcLeave a comment

I didn’t know what it meant until recently.

I met the 1 Hundred Works guys via the AtoZ blogging challenge, which I took part in over on my fiction blog. Akhil and Ayush are two lovely, zany guys who have a passion for blogging and developing an international community around it.

They started a blog called 1 Hundred Works and aimed to get 100 articles written by different folk, about different subjects and I was privileged to be one of the hundred. But that was only the start of it. Their next challenge was the ‘Project 100 contest’.
100 bloggers all writing on the same word prompt and that word is ‘Umwelt’. The competition will be judged but 15% of the marks are given for ‘likes’ and comments on your post. This is to raise the profile of the site but also to encourage folk to work on their marketing and promotion skills.

medium_6155996438 (1) for umwelt on auntyamo.com
In the story Sebastian is a man who likes his privacy

Dictionary.com says  ‘umwelt’ means “the environmental factors, collectively, that are capable of affecting the behaviour of an animal or individual; from the German Umwelt meaning environment.”

I decided to write a fictional story that was kind of inspired by my new neighbours and how their style of living (which is very different to the previous tenants’) has changed my day to day living experience.

If you have time to pop over to read my Umwelt post entitled Moving the Threshold that would be great. If the subject itself intrigues you and you have some time, have a read of a few of them. The different ‘takes’ on the word are amazing – it’ll take me a year to read them all 🙂

On the 23rd of June the counting stops and the judges’ decision will be announced on the 25th.
I haven’t had much luck with competitions but hand-on-heart, I am really enjoying them and every time I enter one I learn something. 🙂

photo credit: fiddle oak via photopin cc