ON REFLECTION
IDON’T know who gets up first in your house, but in our house it’s usually me. On this particular morning, I was up around the usual time and having breakfast when I heard a strange noise.
Curious, I went back upstairs to discover the heavy, framed picture that hangs above our bed had just fallen.
It’s been hanging there for years, but this morning the string snapped and down it came to land on the pillows, just inches from my sleeping wife’s head.
Now, some people might shrug something like that off, or perhaps make a joke of it.
I certainly don’t like to be morbid, but these sorts of things can make you pause and think. What if?
Just a few inches could have made a huge difference between a good day and a dreadful one, between health and serious injury, and perhaps, even, between life or death.
I have friends who would put such things down to luck, fate or karma, but I’m not sure I want to depend on those and I really don’t believe in coincidence.
As a Christian I believe in an almighty God who is in charge of everything that happens.
Admittedly, such faith creates problems at times, for I struggle naturally to understand or accept tragic, evil or painful events.
But more often it brings comfort.
Any questions or doubts are more than balanced by what I read of Christ – his compassion for the needy, his tears and his willingness to suffer personally to help others.
My Bible reading that morning was from Psalm 71, in which the writer asks help from God, his “help and deliverer”. Interesting “coincidence”!
I trust in a God who looks after us, who frequently protects from harm, who provides in need and who comes to our rescue.
Another Psalm says he appoints angels to watch over us. The New Testament teaches he sent his son to “save” and give us “abundant life”.
Jesus taught that our Heavenly Father knows the very hair on our heads and sees the sparrow fall.
In other words, he cares about us in detail. That has been my experience throughout my life so far, not least on this occasion.
My late mum was a fount of traditional folk wisdom.
In her last years, she would frequently quote this old proverb: “You’ll not go before your time”.
Well, we’re still here, so that day the picture fell wasn’t our time. We’ve been given another day.
Let’s not take it for granted, but be thankful!
Let’s take the opportunity to serve the Lord and others with kindness and share a little happiness with the world.