Back on Radio Four this morning with a Prayer for The Day.
I suspect that if you're like me you often wonder if these observations on life that feature in such broadcasts or in sermons really ever happened, or if they are fictions created to help make the speaker's point. Well I can only comment for myself and for today, but there's a photo here, taken seconds after the event referred to.
Good morning,
A month ago my wife and I travelled to the Scottish Island of Iona. Over the years we’ve often spent a week living in the restored Benedictine Abbey there. But this was the first time our daughter came with us. She’s nearly two now and we thought that she’d enjoy the grassy spaces, sandy beaches and the clear blue waters.
We were not wrong … she had a wonderful holiday, except for all the wind. She’d never encountered gusts as strong as those on a Hebredian island, even in the summer. Imagine her surprise when she went running round a corner, to be lifted off her feet and thrown down to earth.
Undeterred she got back up: ready to do battle with the assailant. But to add insult to her astonished injury there was no-one there to grapple. As another rus
hing whoosh left her struggling to stay upright she shouted in defiance, waved her arms in defence, but fundamentally she was stunned her inability to get a grip on her enemy.
She may be too young to know it yet but I suspect there’s something deeper for us all in that. Our toughest battles are often against those things we cannot get a grip on. The fears that rush in at the beginning of a day, the doubts and the worries that often threaten to blow our lives off balance and land us on our back.
Jesus never promised anyone that such struggles could be avoided, and that has rarely been the testimony of those who tried to follow him, but we may be sure that God is with us, strengthening our spirit for the coming day.
Lord your perfect love
Can drive fear from our hearts
Give us the courage to wrestle with life
And make us strong this day
by your Holy Spirit
Amen
We were not wrong … she had a wonderful holiday, except for all the wind. She’d never encountered gusts as strong as those on a Hebredian island, even in the summer. Imagine her surprise when she went running round a corner, to be lifted off her feet and thrown down to earth.
Undeterred she got back up: ready to do battle with the assailant. But to add insult to her astonished injury there was no-one there to grapple. As another rus
hing whoosh left her struggling to stay upright she shouted in defiance, waved her arms in defence, but fundamentally she was stunned her inability to get a grip on her enemy.She may be too young to know it yet but I suspect there’s something deeper for us all in that. Our toughest battles are often against those things we cannot get a grip on. The fears that rush in at the beginning of a day, the doubts and the worries that often threaten to blow our lives off balance and land us on our back.
Jesus never promised anyone that such struggles could be avoided, and that has rarely been the testimony of those who tried to follow him, but we may be sure that God is with us, strengthening our spirit for the coming day.
Lord your perfect love
Can drive fear from our hearts
Give us the courage to wrestle with life
And make us strong this day
by your Holy Spirit
Amen
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