Categories: uncategorized
Date: 05 January 2009 09:49:15
Jan, yes.
Every sermon I've heard recently, in three different churches, and every time I've prayed I've heard the same message again and again. "Trust me". Several years ago I was asked by a counsellor to draw a picture that would describe how I was feeling about my life, and then I was asked to draw God in with a one sentence message, and that was what I drew. Above the picture which so aptly described what I was feeling flew an aeroplane with a banner message behind it: TRUST ME!
It's a scary step to take - a bit like trying to persuade my son to let go of the side of the swimming pool, lift his legs from the floor and relax. Until he trusted me enough to do it, he had the sensation of sinking again and again and his trust was undermined. If he tried to swim without listening to my words, he found it a really scary experience. Then suddenly he decided that when I said I promised I wouldn't let him drown, that he'd be safe because I was there to hold him if the water caused a problem and that he should just try it and see. He let go, lay back on the water's surface and relaxed, and what do you know? He floated! There's been no stopping him since.
I think my sense of peace and calm over Christmas - a surprising sensation that has stayed with me into the New Year so far - is that sense of letting go and letting God take control. Trusting. When the world is falling apart around me and there's little my strength can do to carry me through, it's rather nice to know that God's hand is there just waiting to catch me - not to protect me from what's happening, but to give me the strength to cope with it, one step at a time.
And the first step this morning is to get dressed.