What Do You Really Mean?

I saw this: ‘I’m giving up eating chocolate for a month.’ The meaning’s pretty straightforward.

It was rewritten: ‘I’m giving up. Eating chocolate for a month.’ The meaning’s a bit different!

What did the writer really mean?

Children in Lowestoft returned to school yesterday… smiling, fresh faced children… Some will have said, ‘I hate school’; really they’re pleased to be back… ’I hate my uniform’ may be said with force, but there’s no real resentment… ‘School’s fine’ may cover a number of anxieties and concerns…

What do the children really mean?

Comments from proud parents and family friends can also hide a heap of worries… Will he get on with his new teacher? Will she keep out of trouble? Will they cope in the new big school? I don’t like getting older. I don’t like losing control of my babies. Am I a good parent?’

What do the parents really mean?

Jesus talked about a mother giving birth to a baby… the cries of pain and distress alongside the joy of the safe arrival.

I was an inactive observer at the birth of our three children… I don’t pretend to be an expert… but I think I understand what he was saying….

Mixed emotions, mixed feelings, words don’t always convey complete meaning. I can honestly say I’m happy but also feel sad; I can trust my child to be OK and keep out of trouble (whatever their age!!) but still be anxious.

Brennan Manning says: ‘…I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and I get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about being good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.’

Today I’m content that I don’t always make sense, that I don’t always understand what I really mean… but that’s OK.