Meditation Aug/Sept

Something on the landscape has changed. It has been there for years, but has now suddenly disappeared.

I was sat in our back garden and suddenly realised that the large 8ft bush had been removed. It is as if it has never been there. I only noticed it had gone because I could see something different.  My view had been altered/expanded.

The same thoughts crossed my mind when I was at home in Yorkshire. The Power station or “cloud factory” as we used to call it, was now a pile of rubble, and out of the 3 “cloud factories” that my father used to view on the horizon from our old family home, only one survives.

Thoughts – sometimes there is something large and immoveable on our spiritual landscape. Some problem, some obstacle, that we imagine will always be there. We cannot imagine life without this feature, however, sometimes we suddenly realise that it is dealt with, it has been removed. Our outlook is suddenly changed, our vista has altered.

Reading in the New Testament about the disciples commenting on the beautiful Temple, and its stonework; Jesus commented and said all of this will come tumbling down. The Temple had become a symbol of all that was rotten with the Jewish system and because of this it would be brought down.

Today be encouraged that those things that we think are immoveable – can be moved. Those things that we think cannot change, can change if God steps in.

September thoughts

I never got round to sending the meditation above at the end of August and it is strange reading it now how it can be adapted and seen in a positive light. The something on the horizon that has always been there and has now disappeared could refer to the Queen

Her presence was reassuring and provided a sense of stability.  I spoke to a young lady in a shop yesterday and she said “we thought she would always be there.” There was this illogical assumption that she would always be on our horizon. For many, her death has therefore been a shock. It has reminded us that no-one lives for ever.

Unlike my bush, the Queen has left a mark on this generation that will not be quick to fade. Please listen to the sermon given by the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was amazing and a real witness to a life well lived as a Christian

The pomp and ceremony and the fitting tributes we have witnessed will remain in our hearts and minds for years to come. However, eventually they will fade. Generations have come and gone, and will continue to do so; but as Christians we can turn our eyes to the King of Kings – Jesus Christ. He is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end, His reign is eternal and never ends.