Week 4 – A Story Worth Sharing…
Following the Together Weekend at our Church which was a special time for us I was asked to participate in the Great 50 Days. At the time the email arrived I was not in a place where I felt I could write down anything worthy of telling. With the deadline very close I drafted a reply regretting I could not write anything intending to send it today.
It is now 4.30am and I awoke remembering an experience which may be worth telling – probably prompted by reading the wayside pulpit on our Church last night ‘Santa Claus comes for one day but Jesus is ALWAYS there every day for you and me’. I have only just taken down the Christmas decorations which includes the wooden nativity scene I bought in Nazareth 20 years ago. Doing this brought to mind the response of my 2 year old granddaughter who had been a little difficult and so was taken to sit on the ‘naughty step’ for a couple of minutes – she did not like this. Afterwards I noticed that baby Jesus was not in His cradle and asked her if she knew where baby Jesus was – her reply was “He’s on the naughty step”. This made me smile and have laughed with friends about it but really her reply was a profound illustration. She wanted Jesus to be there on the ‘naughty step’ as she had been and did not like, and it made me think that Jesus will be with us in any situation in our lives and if we ask Him He will help us to cope and get through them.
It is out of season but it is because of that baby Jesus and the life He lived on earth, experiencing many of the difficulties we have today; His death on the cross for us; His resurrection and promise to be with us every day – surely that is worth repeating at any time of the year.
Loving Father, thank you for Your Word that inspires us and confirms our love for us. Forgive us for not reaching out to You when life gets tough – instead trying to cope on our own when all we need is to turn to You and ask for guidance and stay firm in our faith. Amen.
by Brenda Wood
Chester-le-Street Methodist Church