Why learning French is a struggle.

There's lots of reasons, of course. The biggest hurdle for me this year has really been accent. In Britain you can speak French with a Welsh accent and that works pretty well. If you do that here people look at you daft and say "uh?".

But behind the struggle there's a reason more sinister and more noble. It's a spiritual battle here. A conspiracy to shut us up! In the A level in 2004 I averaged 94%. (Perhaps that was a providential push to get us to France, too!) French was easy then. Here it's a battle. I don't think I have aged that much in those two years, though certainly they were difficult years.

No, it's that conspiracy to prevent any talk about Jesus and his kingdom that we are all faced with.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hmmm, there's always more behind the scene than we realise isn't there. Fortunately, I mostly see the hand of God. It takes a while sometimes though. It's most precious to see God at work in the most painful times. To quote my late mother in law 'bitter sweet times'.

Have you read that little book 'Practicing the Presence of God' by Brother Lawrence or someone? It's just the title that has stayed with me and realising God's presence moment by moment and not shutting Him out. It reminds me of Sarah Wesley, I think who had a massive houseful of children to care for. They all knew she was praying when she sat on the kitchen chair and put her apron over her head!

By the way - breaking news - tell Catrin and Gwilym - Matt is leaving Blue Peter and taking Meg the dog with him. What a shame! Apparently he may become a TV producer.
Alan said…
You're absolutely right, and it's important to remember that the struggle matters to us, to God and to everyone around us, too. It's a complicated world.

Shocked at Ma' leaving Blue Paiter. I always preferred him as a presenter to Simon. It was the radical hair that put me off with Simon, whereas Ma' was a good old farm boy and in the great John Noakes tradition.

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