We humans have been obsessed with treasure for a long time. Sir Walter Scott’s book ‘The Pirate’ (1822) was a prelude for Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island’ published in 1883. Stevenson had the idea for this novel based on a map of an imaginary, romantic island whilst on holiday with his stepson Lloyd Osbourne in […]
Do you live in the shadows or in the sun? If you take a few minutes to consider the highs and lows of your life so far, how do you think it adds up? We all want to live on ‘victory hilltop’ but often find ourselves in the ‘valley of defeat’. This can be related to achievements, finances, relationships, moral decisions, faith and our walk with God. Rather than being a steady progression, for many Christians life seems more like a game of ‘Snakes and Ladders’ – one minute riding high and the next crashing down a spiral of disappointment when apparent success has given way to abject failure. This woodland walk is beset with pitfalls from unseen hazards in the shadows but there is a better path heading towards the light. How to get on the path where gains outweigh losses and victory triumphs over defeat?
Think back to the last time you had some tough news and consider how it affected you. How did you take it? We can adopt various coping strategies consciously or unconsciously – glib denial, rejection with anger or accepting it with faith. People talk about ‘taking it on the chin’, but does that mean with or without trusting God? Can you think of someone you know who has accepted bad news well? How about being told that you were like a mighty tree that blessed many people but that you were going to be cut down to a mere stump, bound with iron and bronze? Not a pleasant thing to be told but this is what happened to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon 605-562 BC. None of us likes being ‘cut down to size’ let alone the idea of our recovery being prevented for seven years but it was the precursor to great things for the man who is famed for the ‘hanging gardens of Babylon’. You can read about this in Daniel 4. Perhaps you are facing hard news now – could this be a ‘tree stump moment’?
In 1623, William Shakespeare wrote a far-fetched play entitled ‘The Winter’s Tale’, borrowing heavily from the plot of Robert Greene's pastoral romance ‘Pandosto’, first published in 1588. Part tragedy and part comedy, it spoke of the deep pain that is caused by separation and the wasted years when relationships break down. Despite the sorrow of the first three acts involving jealousy, accusation, death and injustice, things turn out well in the end. The two fathers, Leontes and Polixenes seem spiritually dead and have lost all ability for feelings. However, there is a resurrection at the end and joy as reconciliation comes through Florizel and Perdita in the next generation. Winter is the season when structures are revealed as trees shed their leaves and you see their essence. This tale echoes this process in a fanciful story but God’s story does it in stark reality as relationships are redeemed through from his son’s work on a bare tree.
Have you ever thought about the number of new beginnings you’ve made in your life so far? Your birth was the first but now start counting … new words, new school, new friends, new job, new home, new targets, new horizons and you haven’t finished yet! Each day is a new opportunity for a new start. There are those in life who relish the change that comes with a new beginning, others who prefer the safety of the familiar and some who avoid change at all costs. We are all so different. What about your approach to life? Are you an architect, starter, builder, project manager or a completer-finisher? These arbitrary terms provide lots of scope for cross-overs but it’s interesting for personal reflection as to how you interact with the world around you. Imagine God the Beginner of things with a blank canvas and then KABOOM … it’s the Genesis of all known things.
