Beauty surrounds us, but we usually need to be walking in a garden to know it - Rumi
For my birthday my daughter bought me a wireless keyboard for my tablet computer. An excellent gift and one I will use a lot. The only problem is that for me technological things seem to have a mind of their own. They are most useful when set up, but it is the setting up that I sometimes find difficult. However it seems that God is aware of my technophobia for today’s retreat takes as its text Luke 1:37 ‘For with God nothing shall be impossible’ and asks the question: How do I respond to unexpected struggles or challenges? Do I lean on my faith in God or do I try to cope alone?
Today’s society often views it as a sign of weakness when a person is not able to deal with everyday affairs. “Man up. Pull yourself together. You are a wimp. Get on with it” is often the reaction. Not very helpful and not what that person needs to hear, especially as he, or she may be feeling very alone in that situation. Indeed it might well put them off asking for the help that may be available. I read recently of an ex-serviceman who having returned home descended into a spiral of drink and drugs eventually living rough on the streets simply because he was unable to cope with the pressures of everyday life in the UK after his experiences fighting in Afghanistan. He felt very alone and thinking he was the only one to feel like this he did not ask for help. In fact, he tried, unsuccessfully to cope on his own. Eventually, out of the blue he received an invitation to volunteer on a project to refurbish houses for homeless returning ex-servicemen like himself. This inspired him to turn his life around. He now runs his own business and dedicates himself to helping other returning soldiers in a similar situation. The lesson here is that we all need help to get through the struggles and challenges of this life, whether they be simple like my technophobia or more complex as in the case of the returning ex-serviceman. And there is hope for as the psalmist said: When I called you answered me. Psalm 138:3 (NIV). Centuries later Jesus reassures us that we need to: ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV). Trust in the firm rock that is our God for ‘with God nothing shall be impossible’
1 Comment
Steve Givens
18/3/2019 12:46:48 pm
Great thoughts to start my week. I sometimes wake up on Monday with a growing list of things that need be accomplished. That can feel overwhelming. But I know from experience that the solution to all of that is to first turn it over to God and then put my head down and get to it. But on my own, I often remain stressed and overwhelmed. We're not meant to live that way, just as we are not meant to live without the presence and peace of God.
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AuthorI am an Authorised Local Preacher in an Anglo Catholic parish church, in the Diocese of Essex UK Archives
February 2022
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