“Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within...”
Romans 12:2

Life's more than a riddle.

The days tick by, full moons come and go, and the news media seem to have no shortage of bad news – murder trials and other criminal cases, grandiose political schemes, and a few “scandals” thrown in for good measure, not to mention winter ailments, and now the swine flu “pandemic” which will no doubt feature in one form or another, for many more moons.  In the meantime, we will also be overshadowed by the economic recession, and more gloom and doom!

But then maybe you don’t  read all that stuff.  The trouble is there’s very little good news to cheer us up.  Good news doesn’t seem to make the headlines very often; it’s not sensational enough.  Is that a reflection on society’s appetites?

Cheer up!  Just in case you’re interested, Out of the Mould has prepared a real mind boggler to give you some more practice in “reading between the lines.”!

Let’s start off with an encouraging little story.  After all, everyone likes some light reading, especially if it brightens their day.  Don’t they?  Well, I do anyway!  But of course before you can read it, it has to be written!!  So here goes:

Most mornings each week, weather permitting, the mothers and their babies went walking.  Sometimes, long lines of young mums pushing their strollers and helping them to get back into shape.  Quite impressive and good on them.  This morning however, was a “rest” day for Iva Query.  Her considerate husband and doting dad, was at home for a few hours, so after baby had had a good breast feed, and had settled down for a sleep, Whai had offered to baby sit while his wife did some leisurely shopping.  It was while she was browsing in a shop that she discovered it.  There were a number of little booklets, or brochures, on the counter.  You know – the “please take one” variety, - and the cover caught her eye.  She looked twice.  It didn’t seem to make sense: “WHEN DOES A NIGGLE BECOME A NAGGLE?”

“Erh?  Eh?  What?” said her mind. “What’s a naggle?  Never heard of it!”

She knew what a niggle was.  In fact, she had a few of them right now.  Had had them since their baby had been born, and they had increased as she had listened to her friends on their walks.  All sorts of unanswered questions were nagging away inside her.

Iva picked up the leaflet.  There was something else written at the bottom of the front page:

“When you can’t bear the nag any longer.”

Of course!  A few connections were being made.

A persistent little niggle – a nagging niggle – could be called a naggle.  Nothing like inventing a new word!

Iva smiled to herself as she picked up a couple of the pamphlets.  She definitely wanted to read the few well-spaced pages, that made up the little booklet.

When Iva got home their baby was still fast asleep.  Her shopping items were unpacked on the kitchen table, along with the literature she had found in the shop.

“You might be interested in this, Whai,” she said to her husband. “I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but it might be the answer to those niggling questions we’ve been talking about.”

Whai Query scratched his head as he read the title out aloud. “What is it?  A riddle or something? I must say, I like the picture of the horse.  Quite a handsome nag, isn’t it.  It looks like its plunging into the waves ready to jump into some books.  Yeah, It looks good.  I’ve got to go to work for while, but we’ll talk about it later, eh?”

And they did.

They read through the brochure several times and agreed that they needed to do something about their niggles.  They browsed the website that was mentioned and realised that there was plenty there to think about.  They would need more time for that.

During the next week, Iva and Whai discovered the aptness of that little sentence that had caused them to raise their eyebrows, or crease their brow in puzzlement:  when does a niggle become a naggle?  That question played itself over and over in their minds.  It became a nagging niggle.  No, it became a naggle!  Iva requested some books through the website that they kept going back to.

Her confidence grew.

She began to talk about the naggles with her friends as they went on their daily walks.  She told them where they could obtain a copy of “When does a niggle become a naggle?”

The result?

It was obvious that a number of nagging issues were common to many of her young-mother-friends.

The plunging, mane-tossing nag, boldly leaping into the stormy, restless waves, (so like those of doubt and conflicting voices) and heading towards the information just waiting to be accessed, like a hurdle to jump, became a picture symbolising the Query’s own situation.

A telephone call was made to the names given in the booklet.

An informal get-together was arranged.

Whai, Iva Query and quite a few others found answers to their niggling questions.

They could not bear the nags any longer!  They did something about it…

 

“When does a niggle become a naggle?” is available to be used.  If you could use some to start the ball rolling in other people’s minds, please give us a ring on (09)2368990.

And if the telephone doesn’t ring at our end, then we’ll know that what is written, probably doesn’t get read, or the message isn’t very important!!

In the meantime, here’s something else to think about!

What should a naggle and a turtle have in common?

If you get stuck, try chapter 71 in “From One Prick to Another.”  Hopefully it will help spice up our lifestyles.  Is that another riddle?!