One Of Those Days

I'm having one of those days.  You know, the sort of day you wish didn't bother showing up this morning.  In fact, I've been having one of those weeks.  Too much to do, too little time etc. - we've all had them.

But in the middle of my busyness, in the middle of my panic, in the middle of my must-rush-to-get-this-done-ness, God speaks.

I have just been finishing off a bit of work I needed to get sorted this evening and one of the font choices on the website I was using was called "Loved by the King."

That was it.  Right there.  God speaking into my situation.

I wasn't looking for Him, I wasn't thinking about Him, I wasn't particularly fussed about Him if I'm honest.  But that doesn't stop God looking for me and it doesn't stop Him thinking about me.

We are always on His mind.  Not in a creepy, omniscient Big-Brother kind of way, in a can't-get-you-out-of-my-thoughts kind of way.

God says, in Isaiah -

         "Can a mother forget the infant at her breast,
         walk away from the baby she bore?
         But even if mothers forget,
         I'd never forget you - never.
         Look, I've written your names on the backs of my hands.
         The walls you're rebuilding are never out of my sight."

           [Isaiah 49:15-16 MSG]

Even if He tried, God couldn't forget us.  And He longs for us to lift our eyes from the stresses of our days and to remember Him.

And as we look to Him, the worries of the world melt away. 

When we see Him we find strength to face the day.

And that strength comes from knowing that we are the loved by the King and that nothing else really matters.

God and Tattoos

I found myself discussing tattoos today with Year 9.

 

They were describing and drawing what they were hoping to have done when they were old enough to commit their ideas to permanent ink. 

 

One girl told me that her Dad had her name tattooed across his wrist.  Whilst the thought of needles being anywhere near my wrists make me feel more than a little faint, I think the idea of his tattoo being a sign of his love and commitment is lovely. 

 

How reassuring to know that your name is written in permanent ink on your father's hands.

 

The Bible tells us that this is true for us: our names are written on the hands of our Heavenly Father:

 

 

         "I’d never forget you—never.
         Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands."

 

         [Isaiah 49:16 MSG]

 

 

The Amplified Bible goes even further to say,

 

"Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands."

 

[Isaiah 49:16 AMP]

 

Indelibly imprinted.  Permanent.  Not just our names, but our images.

 

God knows us individually and personally.  He knows our names.  And He is committed to us. 

 

In the same way that my Year 9's Dad has got her name tattooed on his wrist, as a sign that he is committed to her and will never forget her, so does our heavenly Father have our names tattooed on His hands, as a sign that He is committed to us and will never forget us.

 

Permanently.  Indelibly.  Irrevocably.

 

 

Forget Everything You Thought You Knew

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has found the trailers for the Paralympic games on Channel 4 really inspiring over the last few days.

 

Images of people who have overcome huge adversity and have shown tremendous resilience and perseverance to compete in the games.

 

The 'tag lines' have really made me think too:

 

Forget everything you thought you knew about strength.

 

Forget everything you thought you knew about humans.

 

The suggestion is that, as the games unfold over the next 10 days, our thoughts about what strength really is and what it is possible for a human to achieve will be completely challenged and transformed.  Any preconceived ideas we may have had about what can be achieved will be blown away.

 

It's easy to form opinions and preconceptions and we all do it all of the time - we base our understanding of the world on our own ideas and our past experiences and our understanding of the world.

 

Even if sometimes we're wrong.

 

And we do it with God too.

 

I heard someone say recently about Jesus - Most people think Jesus was a nice guy in a nightie, walking around in sandals politely asking people if they wouldn't mind behaving a little bit better.

 

But that's not the Jesus we find in the Bible.

 

Jesus was passionate and compassionate.  He was giving and forgiving.  He reached out to the outsiders of society, the ones that no one else would touch or acknowledge and He healed them - both physically and emotionally.  He gave hope to the hopeless, direction to the lost, and significance to the meaningless.  Ultimately, He gave Himself for us*:

 

"He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human.  It was an incredibly humbling process.  He didn't claim special privileges.  Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion."

[Philippians 2:6-8 MSG] 

 

What if the stereotypical image we have of Jesus, or His dad (old bloke, long beard, white nightie) is wrong?

 

What if we need to redefine and rethink our thinking?  What if we cast aside our preconceptions and our prejudices and discovered what Jesus is really like?  What if we collapsed the walls of our thinking and took God out of the boxes we have created in our own minds?

 

What might happen?

 

Forget everything you thought you knew about God.

 

 

* And all without mention of a nightie.

Short-Term Memory and Cups of Tea

I have an awful short-term memory. 

When it comes to jobs I need to do, unless I write it down on something that I can't lose (usually my hand), I will immediately forget whatever it was.  There is not even a trace of the thought or an inkling in my mind.

This is most annoying for other people when they have asked me to do something and I completely forget.  I don't even remember until they remind me.  It would be annoying for me, too, but I never even remember that I have forgotten something ...

However, this isn't always bad news: it is a long-standing joke in my family that almost every time I make myself a cup of tea, I forget that I have made it.  Even if it is right next to me, if I am not looking directly at it, it is quite literally a case of "out of sight, out of mind."  Just as I start to think I really fancy a cup of tea, I turn around to be reminded that I have already made one!

I think I sometimes have a similar attitude with God.  I forget the little things that He has done for me - out of sight, out of mind - and I need to remind myself regularly.

I realised this when I came across an old journal the other day.  It was full of things that I was praying about and working through at the time, things that have now been resolved.  But until I found that book, I had completely forgotten that God had answered and resolved those prayers.

It was really special to read back over that journal and see the ways in which God has answered those prayers, even in the last few months. 

That's why, for me, it's so important to write things down - I don't want to forget what He has done, so that I don't forget what He is capable of.

I love this passage in the Psalms which reminds us to remind ourselves of what God has done -

"Once again I'll go over what God has done,

lay out on the table the ancient wonders;

I'll ponder all the things you've accomplished,

and give a long, loving look at your acts."

[Psalm 77:11-12 MSG]

Whilst I may have an awful short-term memory, God never forgets the promise and the covenant that He made with us:

           "He remembers, remembers his Covenant—

           for a thousand generations he's been as good as his word."

 

           [Psalm 105:7 MSG]

 

Let's remember to regularly remind ourselves and each other of what God has done (and continues to do), for us.

And if you ever want me to do something for you, write it down.