A Morning with Dr Julianna Slattery

Last Friday a small handful of ladies from my church piled into my car at a very unearthly hour of the morning to head off to Geelong so we could spend the morning hearing Dr Julianna Slattery speak. We looked at Juli's book 'Beyond the Masquerade' for our Women's Retreat earlier this year, and this was the topic Juli was addressing.

I had a few take-home points to consider. I thought I'd share them with you, so you could reap the benefits of my day-long outing.

1. Juli talked about Max Lucado's book "You are Special". Specifically how we assigned 'grey dots' or 'gold stars' to people. And how we take those judgements about us and make them who we are, rather than believing God's opinion of us. What struck me is that often what we say to people is simply moving them up or down the line between stars and dots, rather than hopping off that line altogether.
2. A great illustration Juli used to show how we need to be connected to God to understand our worth was the humble light bulb. If we do not connect to the power source (God) we are useless. When we are connected to God we are able to do and be all that God created us for. The brightest halogen lamp is no better than a humble incandescent bulb if neither are connected to the power source they require!

Juli also shared with us some things she will miss about Australia:

• We have morning and afternoon tea, and often supper...not just breakfast lunch and dinner. And often, we do stop. I've heard this observation in years past and I was surprised by it. I'd not thought it such a noteworthy way of life, but apparently it is.
  
• She also mentioned toilets!!!!!! She was impressed with our dual flushing loos and the fact that they work 100% of the time.

As if to indulge Juli in the very thing that she was about to leave behind, we stopped half way through our morning to have morning tea: scones with jam and cream, and dip with carrot & celery sticks and crackers.

It was a long day, from my end of the world. I left home at 6.30am and arrived back in Our Town to pick the kids up at 3.20pm. It was a day packed full of all things good. Great teaching and perspective, wonderful conversation with some amazing women, as we travelled. We even found (amazingly!) a nice little cafe for a quick bite of lunch before heading home. My zucchini fritter with sour cream and draped with smoked salmon was divine!