Outlook: cloudy with a chance of sun!

Isn’t funny how the weather can really affect our mood and outlook? When the sky is dull with clouds and rain it feels like life is dull or difficult. When the sun shines it's somehow much easier to be positive about life and all it throws at us.

Earlier I was sitting at the dinner table having lunch with Solomon and the clouds gathered outside. It looked like it was going to rain and rain and rain. I could feel the clouds gathering in my head too. Then the thought popped into my head ‘Wouldn’t it be odd if the sun came out right now? God, you can do that can’t you?’ Within 5 minutes the sun was shining against the backdrop of big dark grey clouds and it’s still shining now nearly 2 hours later. The clouds haven’t gone, but they make an amazing contrast to the sun.

It’s a simple truth that life is hard. Especially when we rely on people! There are days when it feels like as though it’ll never stop raining; those big storm clouds gather in our heads and hearts and we wonder why we bother. When people we love let us down by being human and frail it’s easy and usually perfectly right to want to hibernate as though it’s blowing a gale and raining cats and dogs outside.  And God can be with us in that; he suffers alongside us I believe.

I also believe in hope. That sun battling against the clouds to me is a symbol of hope, God will win the war! There will be clouds in life, sometimes blanket rain clouds, sometimes big black storm clouds, and often when we least expect them. But the sun can break through; give us hope and shine all the more brightly for the clouds in the background.

So many of my friends need hope right now, may the Lord be your hope, your shelter in the storm.

New Year: New You?

So what will the New Year bring? The old year has taught me that we cannot really know. If someone had told me twelve months ago what the year would hold I would have laughed in their face! Either that or gone completely crazy. 

But that doesn’t mean we can’t make plans, just that our plans need to be held lightly. So what plans have you made? Maybe it’s all about losing weight or getting fit. Perhaps it’s to spend more time with family and/or friends. Maybe there’s something you want to give up, or start doing. Maybe it’s something that includes getting to know God a bit better or finding out more about Him. 

I’m reading a book called The Grace Outpouring, which you may already have read; it’s about blessings from God through prayer. As you might imagine after all the events of the past year, I have started being more deliberate about praying more regularly and this is a book about blessing others through prayer. If you’re at all interested in the subject then do get hold of a copy, the story is an amazing one, and I’m only one chapter 3!   

So, for me the new year will be about blessing other people. I believe that this is what God wants to do, not to judge us or condemn us, not to pick at our faults or run us down. His heart is to love his people and to show us how much he loves us by showing us good things.

And who knows, but maybe by praying for others to be blessed it will produce a new me!

The Lord bless you and keep you,

The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you,

The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.