Carol’s Blog

A Different Day

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I had prayerfully planned my day; I always like to be organised, but I do talk things through with God first. There was some essential shopping to be done, then in the afternoon I planned to visit visit two separate elderly friends who do not get out very much. In between i was going to do 101 other tasks . I need to keep on top of everything.

My shopping was good and for once I had bought everything on the list. After a necessary snack break I was just about to put on my coat to make my first visit, when the door bell rang, I had a visitor. My lovely Christian handicapped friend was visiting me. We had a lovely long uplifting talk but as she was just about to leave, there was another ring of the bell. This was someone who had some business to do with me. We also had a long helpful talk . By the time she left there was no time for visiting. and my 101 jobs had not been done either. What about my God-guided pans?

Why had my plans changed so much? I had felt they were God’s plans in the first place. Why was I visited instead of visiting. It doesn’t matter, The important thing was I had been doing God’s will because I had handed over the day to Him. I didn’t need to know, I only needed to obey.

An Eye for an Eye

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I love the way The Message puts it, ‘An eye for an eye……… That’s not going to get you anywhere. Here’s what I propose, ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ … No more tit-for-tat stuff.’ Matthew 5:38-42. Where is revenge going to get us? Sadly there are countries all round the world who are doing just this – tit-for-tat. The circle needs to be broken. I believe in the past there have been tribes who, intent on revenge have decimated their tribes to near extinction. To get ones own back involves violence, injury and death. The story of Poldark comes to mind.

Maybe we all have a wish to stand up for our rights, but it is not our right to cause trouble to others. Who are we to execute judgment? In Romans 12:19 we read ‘Vengeance is Mine, says the Lord, I will repay.’ Matthew 5 tells us we have been called to be peacemakers . The prayer by St. Francis of Assai says ‘Make me an instrument of Your peace, where there is injury, let my bring peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.’ In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.’ That sounds good

Not many of us have the power help nations who are at war, but when we hear a piece of unkind gossip (nearly all gossip is unkind) we can refuse to repeat it and conversely find something kind to say about that person. We can lobby the politicians, write to the government and fight for injustice against the underdog. Of course, we should not suffer abuse ourselves of any kind but God’s wisdom can protect us. After any interaction with people, they should feel uplifted.

Books, books, books

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Bit by bit during the last few days I’ve been re-arranging my study. As I needed to move two book cases to better accommodate my computer it involved completely emptying the book cases. Then with difficultly I moved the empty pieces of furniture and moved the computer table about twelve inches along the wall. On replacing the books back on their shelves I was amazed how many spiritual books I had. Many were written by people I knew.

I realised that they weren’t doing me any good on the shelves. So I’ve decided to use them to enrich my Christian life. Some are by well-known authors, Tim Chester, Christopher Wright, Peter Maiden, Pete Grieg and many more. Others are by authors who have probably written only one book. Many are study books on various books of the Bible or important topics. Some of those I have read recently and they have aided me in my Christian writing. I thought about the many hours, days and years the authors have spent to produce these books, including the many hours of prayer.

I

Empty Rituals

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‘Do you think that all God wants are sacrifices – empty rituals, just for show? He wants you to look to Him! Plain listening is the thing, not lavish religious production.’ 1 Samuel 15:22-23 The Message.

I love the way The message puts things, so clear and in everyday language. But just think about what it says. In the western world we don’t do sacrifices, but often we do things that are just for show. ‘Don’t the church flowers look nice this week. By the way I arranged them,’ , ‘I had a record number of birthday cards this year, I must be popular!.’

By bringing conversations round to ourselves, we are idol worshipping, the idols being ourselves. In a conversation we do not have to be the centre of attention. We should not think of ourself more highly than ourselves. We probably idol worship more often than we think.

Listening

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There is listening or listening. On Sunday my friend was talking about how her husband was in pain. She gave a name to what he was suffering from but because it had a long medical name, I didn’t really listen. When I pray for him now it would be better if I could name what he has before God. I could then google and pray in a more informed way. As I explained the other day to you, as a child I didn’t listen properly and ended up in the wrong blackberry field. I was listening but not listening.

The Israelites were no better. Ezekiel is told in Ezekiel 2:7 ‘You must speak My words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen.’ We have a God who speaks, speaks to us through nature, by His written word and by the message of others and sermons. Our God is not a silent God, He is not an absent God. He say ‘I have spoken.’ It is not God’s speaking that is lacking, but our listening. We have cloth ears. Properly listening involves obedience, that is what we are not always happy about. To obey will involve us changing our ways, doing and saying things that are out of our comfort zone. Change is costly.

‘Everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on the rocks. Matthew 7:24

Silly Little Nothings

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Fortunately we only have a few really important decisions to make in life. – What career to follow, who to marry, where to live, what medical procedures to follow. These decisions are mind-blowing and involve a great amount of prayer and guidance. It is good that these events are limited in number as they can be energy sapping and a matter of sleep deprivation.

The smaller decisions in our lives are numerous and daily. They are ‘silly little nothings’. Almost too small to notice. but they should still fall within God’s guidance. Without guidance, we could say afterwards ‘If only I hadn’t done that’ or ‘If only I hadn’t said that.’ In our hectic lives we don’t always stop and think, ‘Do I walk down this road?’ or ‘Do I buy porridge or fruit?’ But they could have an effect on our lives.Going down that particular road, we could be subject to a mugging (unlikely). Or going to the cereal section instead of the fruit, we might meet a friend and have an important conversation (more likely)

That is where we can listen, as it says in the text ‘Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there, if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. Psalm 139:8 This is where we can trust God to always be with us, He says He will never leave us or forsake us. He will give us a ‘blanket’ guidance. He will be our rock, shield and resting place, whether the decisions are big or small.. He is always there, He will take care of our ‘silly little nothings.’

Questions

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‘Where is God?’, ‘Why doesn’t He intervene?’, ‘Does He really care?’ These are the type of questions we can ask when things are not going well. We have plans and they don’t materialize. We have restricting poor health, we are in with the wrong crowd and heading for trouble. On our own, sin might have put us where we are now.

Whatever the reason for the failure in our lives and plans we can ask these questions. ‘Where is God, does He care?’ It can be helpful to look to the past. Has God ever failed us or let us down. He has been the One to lead us through all the trials and tribulations? Has He ever been known to break a promise? We look at John 16:33 ‘In this world you will have trouble.’ So if we had taken notice of these words, we would have been prepared for things not to go right. Life was not going to be a bed of roses. Read the rest of this verse, ‘But take heart, I have overcome the world.’ So that answers the questions.

The God who sees the whole situation does care. All bad things will pass though it will be in God’s timing and not ours. Finally He says, ‘I go to prepare a place for you.’ John 14:3

Jigsaws

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I do just one jigsaw a year, which I start between between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Actually it usually takes me weeks to complete. I consider them a time-waster, not a waste of time. I know they stimulate the brain but I don’t have much spare time to do them because I’m doing other things to stimulate my brain. This year my jigsaw is a picture of my local city and it is taking longer than expected. In some ways jigsaws are like life and in many ways they are not. Jigsaws are made up of hundreds of pieces, like life. In a puzzle, all the pieces eventually dove-tail together perfectly. This doesn’t apply to life. No wonder Messy Church is so popular. It reflects actual life.

A missing piece in a puzzle can destroy the final picture; in God’s jigsaw of life will we be the missing piece and spoil the picture? This used to worry me as a young person. Would my reluctance to give my life to Christ, spoil His big picture. I now know that the Christian world will continue without me, but God loves me in particular as He does everyone and wants me. Would I be the weakest chain in the link? Would it snap with my link? Part of growing in the spiritual life is understanding our place. It brings peace, joy and contentment.

To see the jigsaw picture at it’s best, one needs to stand back. By standing back we can see our Christian life better. To see our lives from the aspect of heaven we will see the perfect picture. God has it all in hand. Why did we worry so when God has it planned out. Until I see the perfect picture I am content with all that God does reveal to me.

Thwarted Plans

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Like most people I had plans for the new year. Not new year resolutions, I don’t do those. But plans for things to do during the coming months and a few changes to make.. Suddenly for a number of reasons, nearly all these plans fell apart. I would not being going where I thought I was, I wouldn’t be doing what I thought I would. Sometimes I would be busier than expected and sometimes have time on my hands.

Throughout these changes of plan I had the feeling God was extra in control. He could see that some of my plans would lead me into trouble and there were other places where He could use me more.. This stands to reason, because He can see into the future and I can’t. This makes me excited, what thrilling things are going to happen in the next twelve months?

The Flavour of God

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As Eugene Paterson puts it in Matthew 5:13 ‘You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God flavours of this earth.’ I like that, we are asked to be salt and light in this needy world. We all know the improvement that a pinch of salt can bring to a meal. And at this time of year we appreciate the need for extra light.

What a joy it is to be used to bring light to a dark place, light instead of darkness, hope instead of despair, joy instead of weeping. Every day we pray that God will lead us to the right place, to the right person.

But I must pose a question to which I don’t know the answer. Do we need to be Christian to bring light and hope to others? What about non-believing people who show more Christian attributes than we do? Christians don’t have a monopoly on kindness. My friend says her daughter is the best non-Christian Christian she knows. We understand what she means. I know the daughter and that comment is true.

I am led to think about the comment Jesus made when faced with a question about another person’s state of goodness. ‘Lord, what about him’, Peter asked inquiring about the future of a fellow disciple. Jesus replied, ‘What is that to you.’ John 21: 22