|
Dear Friend,
At a church function recently several people complimented me on how well I looked. Truth to tell, I replied, if only there wasn’t so much of me! When I review my life I consider that – healthwise – I’ve been richly blessed. Other than a one night stay in the Western Infirmary two years ago my only other time in hospital was when I was six years old and I spent three weeks in an isolation ward with scarlet fever. In recent years, morning and evening I take tablets to control blood pressure. Nor can I deny the fact that I’ve reached the stage when I seem to take a greater interest in other people’s medication. At regular intervals I reread the leaflet enclosed in the packet containing my pills which meticulously sets out the causes of high pressure before going on to set down how these tablets may alleviate the condition. If you’re on medication I wonder – if like me – you tremble when you read the section marked Side Effects! A friend recently confided how his doctor had prescribed Propanolol and he was struck by the long list of possible side effects listed on the leaflet which accompanied the tablets. These potential complications included breathlessness or wheezing, dizziness or fainting, dry eyes, skin troubles such as rashes or itching, unexplained allergic reactions, heart problems, a very low heart rate, low blood pressure, poor circulation, blood disorders (often characterised by pallor, fever, unusual bleeding or unexplained bruising). Pain in the calf muscles, nightmares, visual disturbances, mood changes, cold or numb fingers or toes, feeling or being sick, diarrhoea, pins-and-needles, tiredness and insomnia, severe mental problems, and hair loss. NOW WAIT FOR IT. The medicine had been prescribed to alleviate the patient’s feelings of anxiety as he approached his wedding day!!!
In the spiritual life, however, there are times when we think appearance tells us everything we need to know about someone. Scripture warns us – BE CAREFUL. DON’T BE DECEIVED BY APPEARANCE! We live in a world where everything depends on results, on ‘delivering’. But we know from our own work that some of our best efforts seem to get nowhere. Compared to the energy invested the results can disappoint us deeply. Sometimes it can seem that there is nothing in sight but disappointment, frustration and confusion. This makes us wonder about the meaning of all our activity. It jerks our attention back to what it is we’re doing. It gets us thinking about the way we think about what we do. Do we really believe that it all depends on us, that the good we hope to achieve depends simply on our efforts? Surely the difficulties and disappointments are enough to make us realise that everything depends, rather, on a power beyond us. The efforts we put our energy into – we do it all, not because it works, but because it is right. We trust in the cause, not in our own efforts or powers. We trust in the power that is working through us, making good in ways that we cannot see beforehand. So we must not trust too much in our own plans. Sometimes they will succeed, often they will disappoint. We need to trust in the one who continues to work amidst our inevitable disappointments. We need to think of God. God’s spirit is always working. God’s spirit is always accomplishing. “Behold I am with you always.” Let go of your plans, let go of your disappointments. Make room for God, make room in your eyes for seeing how God works. God works dreams from disappointments, paths in confusion, brightness in bewilderment. Open yourself to God, your action isn’t everything. Yet it can be everything if you open yourself to God.
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations.
Your Minister and Friend,
Bill Ferguson
|
