…but then I hit myself in the face a few times with G Kittel’s “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament” (volume IV), and it helped me regain my composure.
It reminded me of that Gary Larson cartoon, set in a psychiatrist’s office, with the original caption, “So Mr Fenton, …Let’s begin with your mother”, which I’ve hijacked for a different context.
I imagine the psychiatrist being my employer, speaking to me on the first day back at my desk, saying…
Now Mr de Freitas, be reasonable, we’ve been through this before, you know everybody has to go back to work at the beginning of the year.
OR
Come now, your desk is all clean and waiting and I’ve bought you a new stapler and a box of rainbow-coloured paper clips.
OR
Now stop this nonsense, we’ve wasted enough time. Do you want me to call your wife?
If you identify with the cartoon in any way, what do you imagine your employer saying to you? Please comment. If you’re self-employed, or are the boss, and still identify with the picture, imagine what your inner child / parent / imaginary friend / slave-driver, etc (depending on where you are in your journey) might be saying.
And of course, A HAPPY AND BLESSED NEW YEAR TO ALL. May you grasp with the sure, uncomplicated, unrelentingly insistent, two-handed grip of a child (Mark 10:13-16) all God’s freely available wisdom, grace, holiness, and strength, to do and be all He requires of you in 2022
