This blog is in many ways a personal one as well as a
means of keeping in contact with our Christian community and trying to offer
some spiritual insights.
Yesterday I rejoiced that social media exists when I
received a 30-second video of my youngest grandson. He is seven months old and
had just begun to crawl a couple of weeks ago, then he pulled himself up on a
chair soon afterwards. But the latest scene is yet greater.
Gran Canaria is part of Spain, and after many weeks of
complete lockdown the government is now permitting people to go out for exercise
and even – ta da – walk on the beach. So this was my little lad’s first time
on the beach, and with arms held by his mother he took to paddling along the
shoreline, with a joy and enthusiasm which fills me with happiness.
This also fills me with hope, for it tells me that restrictions
really can – and will – be ended. Perhaps an announcement this week? Well, we are behind
Spain on “the curve”. But it is a sign of hope, reminding me that freedom will
return. And that is living proof.
Seeing our sons and grandchildren is also a sign of hope
for the future. Not for nothing do the people in the Old Testament
remember their forebears and have such care that the family line continues. It
is a very basic human feeling and experience, and even if we do not have family
it is important to feel that the next generations are coming along, dipping
their toes into the edge of the shoreline of the future.
Heavenly Father, among life’s challenges, we thank you
for all signs of hope for our selves and for the future of mankind. Help us to
align ourselves to your loving purposes for our world, and to work against all that
brings suffering and death. Help us all to hold together in families,
communities and nations to find a newness of life in which we care for our
planet and follow more closely your ways of love. In Jesus’ name. Amen
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