Here’s an interesting and potentially very helpful and inspiring exercise: to think back over one’s life and try to remember all the times when you have been seized with a sense of wonder or gratitude--perhaps due to a wonderful event in your life or the life of your family, or because of a moment of insight, or a close call in a time of danger, or something glorious or spectacular in nature, or perhaps even something in church (surprise!) And then ponder whether God was in that or part of that, whether God was acting in your life. And then to thank Him for His presence, a presence that will continue on for the rest of your life. Something to think about.

The apostle Paul tells us, quite emphatically, that we should not allow ourselves to be conformed to this world or its ways of thinking, but instead, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (see Romans 12:2). The latter injunction is a bit of challenge, for we are not always aware that we are becoming conformed to our world’s ways of thinking, so subtle and insidious this influence can be at times. The Bible describes this influence as leaven or yeast, as something that quietly and unnoticeably ‘worms its way’ into how we think and behave. And so we need to be careful and vigilant, hence our meditation for today.

Something that we all forget all too often is that God is in charge, and none other--and that includes ourselves. And yet we often go about life, thinking and acting as if we are the bosses. I mean, how often do we draw up our ‘things to do today’ lists without consulting God or asking God what He would want us to do today? I have to say that I am frequently guilty of this, and I suspect that I am not alone in this failing. So, then, I have to wonder, what would it be like if we actually took the time to ask God for His plans for us for the day, and then carried them out. Something to think about.

If there is anything that Jesus repeated in His numerous discourses, other than, of course, the need to trust Him, is His call to persistence in prayer, which, actually amounts to the same thing as trusting Him. Sadly, however, we grow tired or disillusioned by God’s seeming silence or seeming refusal, and so we give up on praying. Here, our Syro-Phoenician, Canaanite woman can be a great inspiration. She didn’t give up, in spite of initially not seeming to get a hearing. Let us be like her and not give up either.

I don’t know about you, but often I find the news, even that of a more local nature, to be awfully tiring, disappointing and worrisome. And then, when it comes to aches and pains, which seem to come all the more frequently these days--not to mention the reoccurring ‘visits’ to various medical professionals, a future place of relief and glory seems most attractive. In today’s passage, the apostle Paul speaks not only of a place, but of a new existence, in fact, a new body, where all these woes and ills will be put behind. All in all, it sounds quite attractive--something to look forward to, and something to whet our hope and our trust in Christ Jesus.

Jesus knows us far better than we do, and He knows that to get to ‘the heart of the problem’, He needs to do just that--in other words, get to our innermost beings, our hearts, the centre and root of everything that we think, say, or do. The problem is that often we don’t even realize what lurks there, nor just how wayward or unsavoury it is. It is so easy to be fooled by what lies therein. When an ancient prophet said that ‘the heart is deceitful about all things’, he was spot on. And so we need help from God, and from His holy word, to reveal it to us, and likewise His help in knowing how to deal with it and actually doing so.

Peter’s experience on the Sea of Galilee, when he ‘momentarily’ was able to join Jesus in walking on the water, serves as a great reminder to all of us, a reminder to keep our eyes, our focus, on Jesus, and not be distracted or made fearful by the host of issues and problems that surround us. God’s care for us, and His ever-watchful attention, are always greater than ever the most fearful of problems. Thanks be to God.

Our society, by and large, is constantly telling us that we don’t ‘have enough’, or that what we have is outmoded or insufficient or inadequate. It fosters a climate of dissatisfaction and of self-doubt, as if even we ourselves are not ‘up to the task’, not ‘good enough’ or adequate enough. These ideas can easily spill over to the church, where we begin to doubt that our gifts or abilities or experiences won’t fill the bill. What Jesus teaches us, in the feeding of the 5,000, is that what we have and what we are is plenty enough, enough to fill the bill, if only we give it over to God and let Him bless it and make use of it.

Today’s passage from Ecclesiastes raises a number of rather interesting--and serious--questions, namely of the interplay between God’s sovereignty and human free will. How do we put the two together? Here, I like the story of the famous impromptu duet of a famed pianist and a ‘stray’ pre-teen child. Just before the pianist was to begin his performance of some well known and difficult piano solo, a child strayed onto the stage and going over to the grand piano, started tapping out a fumbling rendition of ‘chopsticks’. The audience was understandably aghast, but the maestro simply came over to the piano, seated himself on the piano bench beside the young boy, and filled in the ‘missing notes’. The result was incredible, and exhilarating. To me, this aptly describes what God does with us and our inept, fumbling efforts.

In every avenue of life we have expectations, expectations which we serve us well--or, not so well. So, what about our expectations about God, or Jesus, or the church? Can they ever do us a disservice? I would suggest that they can. We don’t know why Judas turned against Jesus, but it is fair to say that Jesus probably didn’t live up to Judas’ expectations. We will probably never know this in this life, but we do have some indications why the once noted evangelist, Charles Templeton, quit being a follower of Jesus Christ. It was, according to his own testimony, because of the rampant poverty and suffering he saw when on a trip to India. “How can a loving God allow all that?”, he said in retrospect.

And so our expectations do matter. What I would therefore say is, ‘Stick with God, be loyal to Him, trust Him, anyway. God’s knowledge and plans are necessarily much wider and wiser than ours, otherwise He would not be God. Being God, He knows better. And, so, just leave it in His hands.”

Public opinion, and particularly social media and advertisers, try to set forth certain products and services as truly worthy of our attention and approval, and, of course, our spending power. What they seldom talk about, except perhaps on a ‘friendly’ Face Book post, is the pearl of great price, the treasure of surpassing value, which, of course, is Jesus. So, perhaps a reminder that He, and He alone, is truly worthy of our lives, and of our ‘investments’.

Today’s psalm and meditation constitute a sort of wake-up call for me. I am so easily distracted by the latest breaking news, the weather, my aches and pains, or my present agenda, which means that I don’t always maintain my focus on God or on His will or His purposes for us and our world. Our psalmist reminds us of where our focus rightfully should be.

Money, wealth and possessions in general have always been a tricky and somewhat contentious subject. While few, if any, of us fall into the categories of the very rich or the very poor, what we own, or don’t own, still is rather important, such that we don’t willingly or easily part with them. I, for instance, am quite attached to my books. These things, unfortunately, can become part of our identity, part of who we are. In fact, we can easily attach a meaning or a significance to them far beyond what we should, even to the point of our coming to depend upon them--even, I might suggest, crowding out God. And so, Paul’s warning in his letter to Timothy is most appropriate to all of us.

In the Scriptures we are told to praise God with every part of our beings, whether that be by words or deeds, or even by our thoughts and intentions. So, how do we do this? I guess the first part is to become more aware, more aware of all the blessings that God has given us, and, perhaps even more, to be aware of just how wonderful, gracious, and loving our God is. It is so easy to take all these blessings for granted, and to gloss over them and forget them, so I’m thinking that cultivating an awareness is a crucial first step. From there, hopefully, it will be all the more natural to praise Him.

Is there anyone out there like me? I mean, anyone who is prone to fretting about things, or getting worked up or ‘bugged’ by fairly minor things or occurrences? (I sometimes think that in my ‘old age’ I have become especially susceptible to such behaviour). Anyway, I have found Psalm 37 to be an excellent wake-up call and corrective to such. Maybe you will find this as well.

Much has been said about the church as a ‘family’, and quite properly so, we are indeed a family, with Christ as its head. And, sadly, unfortunately, like our ‘natural’ families, things don’t always go smoothly or harmoniously. And then there are the issues that can sometimes arise between our ‘natural’ families and our church family. In times past, there was often great turmoil and consternation when a family member married someone from a different church denomination, but this isn’t so great an issue now. But for many people, coming from non-Christian faiths--such as Judaism, Islam or Hinduism--it is indeed a very large issue, and often one that can break apart families and even cause a potential convert to rethink whether he or she is really willing to take that step, especially considering the very real risks involved.

So, it is important, on both counts--that of our Christian family and our natural ones--to really think about what family means to us and see how we might honour each of them.

Here, I really have to agree with our commentator in the Forward Day by Day post. Often the Prayers of the People, as ‘performed’ as part of our Sunday liturgy, come across as something rather perfunctory, as something we ‘have to do’. And, even when they are not like this, do we really treat them seriously when it comes to our everyday lives? Of instance, are there people in need that we pray for intentionally and regularly, and by name? And, when it comes to our officials, do we bother to get to know what they are like--what motivates them, for instance--what they consider important, and what issues they’re facing? And, in this, do we rely on more than the snip-its, the brief sound bites, that we get from the media? In other words, have we put ourselves in a place where we can pray meaningfully for them? That, obviously, will take some work, and apart from the fact that we may not even like some of them, puts us in something of a bind. And yet, it is something that God calls us to--and for good reasons. And, speaking of that, who knows what might happen?

Today’s Scripture and meditation put us in mind of considering what impact our lives will have on the world around us, especially upon those who come to know us well. Will our words and works have a positive impact, or not? Now, I’m not for a moment suggesting that we should always ‘look around’ to see how we’re doing, to see how others are reacting, no, not in the least. Rather, I think it’s a case of trying to do what is right and good, and then just ‘letting the chips fall where they may’. I’m thinking that if we try to do what God wants, the impacts will indeed be good.

Today’s Scripture and meditation speak about the idea that God speaks, and that He actually speaks to us human beings. An obvious way is through the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, but that means that we have to read them, meditate on them, digest them, and allow them to become part of our very beings. And, of course, this is best done while in an attitude of prayer, which means that we have to quit our busyness for a moment or more, and actually be still and quiet and receptive. This is what I call my Quiet Time.

But, if we so desire, we can also make this even more personal. In this time of quiet we can ask God two questions, “Who do I need to minister to today?” and “Where can I make amends or make things better?” Both of these questions presuppose that we are in this world to minister to others and to make a difference.

Today’s passage and meditation could never be more needful than in our world of today. Knowledge, ‘facts’, opinions and ideas are in great abundance, sometimes confusingly so. What is missing is the wisdom to know how to deal with them, how to sort them out and tell ‘one from tunder’ and how to act on them. It is something we so desperately need, and yet it is freely available in God and His word--if only we are willing to go to it, listen to it and abide by it.