Skip to main content

Trusting


Do not be afraid.

Have you ever noticed that whenever an angel turns up in the Christmas story, just about the first thing they have to say is, "Do not be afraid"?

To Zechariah: "Do not be afraid, for your prayer is heard."

To Mary: "Do not be afraid, for you have found favour with God."

To Joseph: "Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."

To the shepherds: "Do not be afraid, for I bring you good news."

The approach of God to earth is a fearful and wonderful thing.  And whatever these angels looked like, they must not have been exactly reassuring in appearance.  But sometimes we make our own fears about meeting God.

Are you afraid he doesn't listen to you?
Are you afraid he won't be happy with you?
Are you afraid you are making the wrong decision?
Are you afraid he will tell you something you don't want to hear?

Then, as we are poised on the brink of Christmas, listen to the angels.
Do not be afraid.

Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,
    and princes will rule in justice.
And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
    and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever.
Isaiah 32:1,17 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mr White Watson of Bakewell

Once upon a time, back in 1795 or so, lived a man who was always asking questions.  The kind of questions like, "Why is glass transparent?" or "Why do fruit trees grow better in that place than in this place?" or "What does the earth look like underneath the surface?"  This last question was one that he was particularly interested in, and he went so far as to work out what the rock layers looked like where he lived, and draw little pictures of them.  Now he was a marble sculptor by trade (as well as fossil hunter, mineral seller, and a few other things) so he thought it would be even better to make his little pictures in stone.  That way he could represent the layers using the actual rocks they were composed of.  Over the course of his lifetime he made almost 100 of these tablets, as he called them. Then he died.  And no one else was quite as interested in all those rocks and minerals as he was.  His collection was sold off, bit by bit, and the table...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bradford Cathedral: A marvel in miniature

My family think it's hilarious. I seem to have a gift for finding people who are doing weird and wonderful things. Cycling across all the OS maps in the UK ( Mark Wedgwood ). Going to Rome on a 50cc moped called Rocinante ( Chris Webb) . Walking 3700 miles in Wales to raise awareness of ovarian cancer ( Ursula Martin )  And building a scale model of Bradford Cathedral ( Michael Scott ). Michael Scott's main hobby is constructing an N-scale railway layout of a fictional West Yorkshire town called Chandwell. I forget how I first found his YouTube channel; I think it was shortly before Bradford Cathedral asked if he would turn his talents to producing a model of the building, as part of Bradford's year as City of Culture. He said yes, thinking it would take about nine months. Two years and many fascinating videos later, he finally unveiled the finished artwork at the cathedral. I had to be there. It helped that Graham's sister and brother-in-law live just outside Bradford...
Post a Comment
Read more

Growing things

For those of you who are interested in my attempts at balcony gardening, I thought I'd update you a little. For those who aren't, don't skip this post. You may find something else of interest. Apart from the ever-present herbs, tomatoes and cayenne peppers are on the go this year. The peppers are really on the go - we went away for a week and came back to find them twice the size as when we left. Now they're producing fruit which is growing at a similarly rapid rate, though none has ripened to red yet. I realised I should have given you some kind of scale, so I just went out and measured. They're about 22 cm long, or 8 1/2 inches for you non-metric types. I may have to find out how to dry peppers if they all ripen at once. A couple of tomato plants are looking pretty healthy and beginning to flower. A few died; one, apparently, by being eaten whole by a bird, a trouble I've never had before. I had two seedlings left so used those as replacements, b...
2 comments
Read more