Drew back the Curtains

I drew back the curtains to reveal a dark morning. Amongst the spent peas and withering rhubarb, there was movement. I looked longer. A blackbird, hopping amongst the detritus, hoping for breakfast.

As the light strengthened, autumn colours which still bedeck some trees were revealed. I watched as little birds darted here and there amongst the trees, seeking insects, chattering to one another. 

Now, an hour later, the light is as strong as it will get on this November morning. Where the light does not penetrate, the darkness appears darker than ever.

I am the light of the world, Jesus said. We are told that different light has different properties. One shouldn’t be on an electronic device near bedtime because the blue light stimulates something that prevents sleep. There are other wavelengths of light which encourage the zzzs. 

Paul taught that now we’re just seeing through ‘the glass darkly’: what we see is not very clear. As we look to the light of the world, though, things begin to take shape and be revealed for what they are. 

Every day has new challenges to be met, new challenges that I want to meet with the welcoming light of Jesus shining through me, revealing the truth of what the challenge really is. Or at least encouraging me to trust him to help me meet it, whether or not I’m baffled and bewildered by what’s coming.

The light was in the world, but the world didn’t recognise nor receive him. Today, I want to recognise, receive, and transmit his light.

Have a great day.

Over the Rainbow

Although the sky was fifty shades of grey, there must have been enough of a hole in the clouds to allow a shaft of sunlight in: we walked towards a weak, but visible, rainbow.

Life can be five hundred shades of grey sometimes, but through it all there will be a rip in the clouds, a shaft of light, and a rainbow. In every teardrop, a rainbow.

I’m thinking about friends and family struggling in tough times right now, but underscoring these thoughts is the low bass drone of a world in turmoil through man-made violence and through natural disasters. Myanmar and Yemen, Bangladesh and Houston, the Caribbean islands and Mexico, Syria and North Korea. And more. 

In all that, it’s hard to see a rainbow. I have to keep focused on the Light of the world. In him is the rainbow, and the promised land.

We two kings

We two kings ...

The third king has come unstuck. He’s dropped the light, and awaits repair upstairs. He dropped it last Christmas, and has awaited repair all year. But we’ve been too busy, one way and another, to even take time to apply a bit of glue to his upturned arms. A whole year hasn’t been long enough somehow...

It’s easy to drop the light. To become unstuck, too busy with preparations for everything, everyone,  except the King. I just had a wee chat with our postie Paul, who said he is madly laying floors and painting walls before family arrive for the holidays. Today I am pretty focused on getting the traditional Potica to rise – always a challenge in a cold house. Then I want to check the gift situation, do a bit of wrapping, a lot of cleaning, some more baking ... the prep goes on. Busy busy.

And the prep can snuff out the light. We can even drop it as our hands fill up with all sorts of things.

I’ve just come out of the prayer window, and a rendezvous with the King. Time to confess, to be cleansed, to be refilled and relit with the Light of the World. Advent is the season of prep, but we – I – so often replace the important inner, spiritual preparation of a place fit for the King of Kings to live, with outer, relatively unimportant prep.

May your light shine bright throughout the busy preparations. Especially in this world of turmoil and uncertainty, as the darkness nips at our toes, the prep that is really needed is that time in the prayer window, or wherever you call your sacred space. 

Whatever gift you have been given by the King, let him fill your arms with it this Christmas, as you offer it back to him in utter trust and joy.

God's glory revealed

Why is there suffering if God is a God of love? 

That must be the most frequently asked theological question, and the one which most stubbornly resists any completely satisfying answer. I do adhere to probably the most widely voiced answer given by believers, that because God created us to have free will and not be robots programmed to love him, we had the capacity right from the beginning to choose to follow him or reject him. As soon as we chose to reject his law, we invited in the darkness which seems to prevail in our world today.

Suffering is a product of that darkness. It was never God’s intention to have us suffering or even dying, but our choices led to such consequences.

I have been working on John 9 today, reading about the healing of the man born blind. Jesus tells his disciples, who erroneously thought that suffering was the result of particular sins in an individual’s life or that of his parents, that some suffering is allowed by God so that his glory can be more clearly revealed.

I have been watching open-mouthed as someone close to me has suffered, because I have seen God’s glory clearly revealed in her. As she and her husband have steadfastly held on to God through this time of trial, continuing to ask him for his blessing of healing and trusting him whether or not it was apparent, God’s glory has been revealed.

It reminds me of the story of the friends of Daniel who were thrown into the blazing furnace. Before they were forced into the furnace, they testified to their belief in the greatness and love of God and their conviction that he would save them from the fire, but that even if he didn’t, they still clung to him as a God of love.

I’ve just had word that the surgery which was to take place in a fortnight has been moved forward to tomorrow and will be less invasive than originally planned. I believe that God’s grace and favour is on this young woman as she heads into this frightening time, continuing to lean on the Lord who she knows and loves.

I wrote above that the darkness seems to prevail in our world today. Many times it ‘seems’ to prevail, but in fact John writes in his first chapter that the light is in the world, and the darkness hasn’t understood nor overcome it. 

The light of the world stepped down into darkness and he continues to shine out through beacons such as this young woman and her husband. Praise God.

Squirrels

Squirrels are busy at this time of year, gathering and storing food to see them through the winter months which they know are coming. It is an annual event and they have a rhythm to their year which, if they ignore, will cause them suffering, misery, and probable death.

Nobody who has a radio, television or internet access can be unaware of the serious darkness that is palpably spreading across the Middle East, driving out life and light. Where this darkness will end is an unknown, but our need to stand against it is obvious. 

As Christians, we worship Jesus, the Light of the world, and now more than ever we need to be praying that his light will penetrate the deep darkness wherever it manifests, abroad or at home. We need to be vigilant and persevering in prayer and never give up.

Our faith should lead to action, and we should be speaking out against abuses, injustices, and discrimination wherever and whenever we see it. Secularism will reduce everything to a very low common denominator and we believers need to call out the gold in people, to refresh their memory of God or introduce them to him for the first time. We need to be more active than ever just now, like the squirrels preparing for winter.

And on a personal level, we should be storing up Scripture in our memories for a time when we might just not have Bibles lying all over the house. I’m speaking to myself there.

Jesus said to keep alert. Keep busy. Focus in on God, grateful that he has the power to change everything.