From a “double life” to the life-transforming discovery of God’s grace I was 16 years old when I first heard the gospel. My sister had moved to live in London and returned home one weekend with the extraordinary news that she had become a Christian. I had never heard anyone say that before. We were […]
Wind and weather come together – one brings the other. What they both have in common is that they are very changeable and unpredictable even to the best red-faced forecasters.
If a weather vane cannot be relied upon as an accurate weather forecaster, then something that is a fixed point is needed for safe navigation – how about magnetic north?
Some people are born into families where there is no shortage of money and the advantages that it can bring – housing in a ‘nice’ area, lifestyle and educational opportunities. Others are born into poverty or war-torn countries, perhaps with physical disabilities that make life even harder. It seems an injustice that some have an easy life full of advantages whereas others have few or none.
Would the person who knows you best in the world describe you as tolerant? That person is you by the way! Maybe there’s a mixed view among others who know you. Perhaps there are some things you do tolerate and others that you simply do not. We tend to be more tolerant with our own weaknesses than those of others. If you were a Bird of Paradise flower, Banana plant or Rubber tree, the chances are that you would not tolerate life in a temperate climate but would require the tropical temperatures provided by a hothouse! When you think about it, much of life is about discovering the tolerances of materials and of people. Metal is tested to its breaking point and fluids are tested for flash points. This is how we learn and can set safety standards. What about you? Do you know your breaking point and flash points for your own safety?!
So much is made of the carbon footprint that we reputedly leave behind us. Some people have changed their diets moving away from meat, have decided to use more sustainable energy sources and have become more determined to have a ‘recycling lifestyle’. Others give it little thought as the idea of responsibility towards future generations is far from them. Where are you on the spectrum and how have things shifted in your thinking? Turn it on its head for a moment and think about the footprint that another has made in your life – perhaps a parent, a friend or a teacher. What impact has their footprint had in your life, for good or bad? Take another look at your own footprint in the lives of those around you.
To a fisherman, a cobbler and a boxer, this would be true! It matters to a child but not to God. Does it matter to you? Most people’s desire is for more and more, bigger and bigger, faster and faster, stronger and stronger. Entering the world with nothing, many forget that we will take nothing material with us. It was the foolish man who tore down his barns to build bigger ones so he could enjoy life, for that very night was his last! The house, the car, the savings pot and every precious item collected over a lifetime will be left behind. Is it not then ironic that so much effort goes into gathering when all of it stays earth-bound until it also rots and decays? The mantra for the modern self is, ‘I must increase, you must decrease’! Yet John the Baptist who lived on the very minimum said to Jesus, ‘I must decrease, you must increase’! Each candle casts its light no matter its size.
When it comes to relationships, are you and those around you ‘consumers-of’ or ‘investors-in’? Have you noticed that the more developed a society becomes, the more consumerist it’s practices? This leads to overconsumption, excessive production, a throw-away mentality and great waste. Humankind currently produces two billion tonnes of waste per year between 7.6 billion people. Perhaps then it is not surprising that littering and fly-tipping are common. Some would regard graffiti as litter whilst others call it art! Where are you on the approval-disapproval scale of littering and graffiti … or indeed on your approach to relationships? Yet sometimes graffiti like the one pictured can make powerful statements rather than throw-away remarks. The deeper question it provokes is about the quality of relationships that last because of significant inward investment rather than those which are merely consumed and discarded.
There are many types of ‘lockdown’ but in all of them there is no escaping the time of waiting. Even before you are born, your mum and other people were waiting for you! The young can’t wait to grow up and gain their independence. The old find they have to wait for everyone else to do things for them as they progressively lose their independence and sense of value. We usually wait for something that matters to us and in doing so give that ‘something’ meaning. It might be waiting for the bus, the answer to a proposal, the job offer, the operation … or even the exam to start, to stop or to get the result! There’s lots of waiting in every part of life and we can do it with expectation or dread, with patience or impatience and with trust or in fear. How do you wait? What are you waiting for in this phase of your life? Some are waiting for rescue and others to die. We always seem to be waiting – even gardeners wait!
Isaiah spoke of a righteousness that was high above the heavens and prophesied that it would be poured down upon the earth: ‘You heavens above, rain down my righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it; I, the Lord, have created it’ – Isaiah 45:8. Although he told of a virgin being with child and of a suffering servant-leader, just how we could be declared righteous was unclear. Over 700 years later, revelation comes with the person of Christ Jesus as to how we can be righteous, now.
Do you see personal righteousness as a lofty ideal beyond the bright blue skies or as a ‘now reality’?
This little guy represents all of us – he knows he’s been found out, it’s weighing heavy on him and he’s pleading for mercy! Which way will those scales weigh – mercy or justice? How do they weigh for you?
‘“My friend” resumed the Bishop, “before you go, here are your candlesticks. Take them.”… Jean Valjean was trembling in every limb. He took the two candlesticks mechanically, and with a bewildered air. “Now,” said the Bishop, “go in peace.
