Greatest fears that last a lifetime.<\/p>\n
Coming from a non-book culture I did not have the sophistication of the English language, a glottal stop was in my mind a gobstopper! And when I was exposed to such things I realised that it really did stop me from announcing my limited and simple English.<\/p>\n
I had to move from childhood, with its deep rooted fear of being exposed, to middle life via development of strategy\u2019s that enable me to cope, and then onto to later life when I began to think – does it actually matter?<\/p>\n
So I graduated from the fountain pen to the biro. Then I moved onto the typewriter, texting, predictive texting (how do I know its write (right)), and onto conversing though my hand held device (what about my stutter and accent and glottal stops)?<\/p>\n
I definitely needed to be older for my coping strategies to work. As I grew older I found myself professionally doing more and more presentations, not to mention speaking in church, it was (and is) torture. But as I got older I could cope better, I was more experienced, wiser, more self-assured – but what if these coping strategies stopped working what then\u2026?<\/p>\n
Okay then, you\u2019ve got me!<\/p>\n
After all I\u2019m just human and need to be treated as one, just like everyone else, with patience, compassion and love.<\/p>\n
I know I\u2019m not done in needing coping strategies. As I pondered this I was thinking about Jesus charging about, laying into the authorities of the day at one moment, and then at the next with love, care and compassion holding the hand of a young girl and raising her from her sick bed. Jesus was after all human, and consequently he too needed coping strategies. His answer was to go to God the Father and lay it all out before him.<\/p>\n
Being a bloke I don\u2019t always talk about my inner fears, but as I got older I recognised that in talking to God I have the ultimate coping strategy.<\/p>\n
Does it work?<\/p>\n
My fountain pen works, yes I still write with a fountain pen. There is something nice about getting a letter that is hand written (I\u2019ve checked), yes with spelling mistakes, grammar and syntax errors all over the place, but it\u2019s personal and it takes time and its also identifying who the writer is. You may have to read it more than once just to make sure that you recognise some of the twirls and scratchings that make it a letter to you.<\/p>\n
Dare I say it\u2019s a bit like the bible, it also takes time to read and decipher but it also allows us to understand how to approach Father God, which can make it easier to go and chat with him.<\/p>\n
Oh yes, longhand writing exposes me but as I\u2019m an adult now I\u2019m old enough to cope!<\/p>\n
Image Credit: \u00c1lvaro Serrano<\/p>\n