It sounds like a fairy tale beginning yet it is true to say that, ‘once upon a time’, products were made to last and in times of scarcity, people needed to make things last. Nowadays, partly due to rapidly changing technologies, ‘planned obsolescence’ and customer expectations for the latest model, things we buy have much […]
Even the kindest souls can do it and probably we’ve all done it at some time or another – used words carelessly. Rather than thinking first, we speak and then think later. It might be an on-the-spur-of-the-moment quip at someone else’s expense or an outburst of irritation that sends words like heat-seeking missiles and the damage is done. The result? A look of pain on the face of the person receiving it or bringing a sharp repost and a cooling in a relationship as trust feels damaged. Regret will follow but if words are tossed around like matches, eventually they will find something to ignite and a measure of destruction begins. Words are not to be used to harm others as a fencer gone berserk might use a sword lacerating all those around or as lighted matches thrown carelessly. Maybe you’ve been on the receiving end more recently than being the one discharging those sharp words. Either way, reflect a little on the way you’ve given and received words for their impact is considerable.
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?
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.
Life is made up of a rich tapestry – dark and light threads, bright and dull colours, rough and smooth textures. You may have heard it said, turn the cloth one way and it is messy, a bit ugly with tied knots and makes little sense; but then, turn it over, and it is a fine woven lovingly embroidered tapestry telling a beautiful life story. Do you see your life as a work of art full of worship and wonder or as a mess? The Embroiderer calls us to a relationship where the wonder brings out the worship. Or as Thomas Carlisle puts it: ‘Wonder is the basis of worship’.
