Tuesday, September 26, 2006

3rd place/exceptions/tolerance

So I'm back from a week in Windy Wellington. It was a good experience and I would go through it all over again- but maybe not til next year! It was stressful and absolutely draining but fun. After a 3 day cook-off, I managed a bronze medal. Yea, I'm pleased but not stoked...I really wanted to win it. However, I knew gold was out of the question after day 3 was over so I was only wanting to place.

It's taken a while for the brain to recover; yesterday was hard! Even driving was a mission, it required A LOT of concentration. I'm coping better today. So I'm back to work tomorrow. *groan* Unfortunately, I'm back to nite shifts. That does suck but not as much as being rostered on for a Sunday nite! I'm really annoyed by that so hopefully I'll be able to sort it out when I get back tomorrow.

A few things have cropped up since being back from Nationals and it's caused me to reflect on the exceptions (or lack of) that we make and level of tolerance we have for others. (I'm not going to elaborate on what it was that happened that brought upon this reflection coz there is no need to. )

How do we determine who are the people in our lives that receive more grace than others? What makes them more special or deserving? Is it because they have shown us the level of tolerance that we show them, if not more? Or is it because we crave acceptance from the other party(s)? What is it that drives us to crave that acceptance when that really isn't all that important in the wider scheme of things?

Some things to ponder on...

4 comments:

Geekery said...

I've already said it, but I'll say it again: you rock! Congrats on the bronze!

Anonymous said...

oh well no gold, i bet you're disappointed... dont be!!! i'm sure your sifu is VERY proud of you... n i'm happy for u, not that it matters much but hey you're doing great... there's always room for improvement right? so can i now say i know the third best upcoming chef in new zealand? :)


waikin

jeanie said...

Thanx guys...

BJ said...

Just doing the blog rounds - so an official blog congratulations - I think its cool to strive to be the best and natural to be disappointed (otherwise you never really cared). And third is way better than where 4-7 finished up. I wonder how the 7th place person feels: last or the 7th best aspiring chef in NZ?

Well, here's the thing: true grace is never offered because we're more special or deserving than anyone else - thats the point of grace: its undeserved favour. I remember hearing Rob Bell speak about an act of grace towards him that he then wanted to go out and repay. He then realised he had the wrong idea about grace and just tried to accept it without thought of paying someone back or having higher expectations as a result. Its a great question you raise - I think our ability to give and receive grace (and understand what that could look like in our own lives) is one of the core attributes that defines us as a Christ follower.