Thought for the week: We should be grateful for what God has given us!
A few days ago as I was walking to our local shop, I had to stop to admire a huge camellia bush absolutely smothered in large pink flowers.
Seeing that camellia in all its glory forced me to think about the many good and even lovely things that we are able to enjoy in this part of the world with very little interruption - even though we are all living in grim times with the news dominated by war, famine and distress on a global scale.
We still need to remember that we are greatly blessed by living here in Northern Ireland. We do not have to face tornados, tsunamis or earthquakes. There is clean water in our taps. Our electric is there at the flick of a switch. There is food in our supermarkets, even if we are not able to buy all we would like. Even our rubbish is collected from our doorsteps. Our emergency services are always there and we are free to choose our government even though, like ourselves, they are far from perfect.
Yes, it is also true that for many many people, daily life can be, and often is, really hard going. The levels of poverty still shame us, and for many there is now the awful added burden of heating their homes, given the price of oil has doubled in the last few weeks.
As a Christian, I constantly need to remind myself of the balance between appreciating the lovely things that God has given me, and the need to reflect the physical beauty I saw in the camellia in the way that I respond to and treat other people. Each and every person I meet is made with even more care than that camellia bush, and is infinitely more valuable to him. That earthly and eternal value is at the heart of what we celebrate at Easter. God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son for us, so that by committing our ways to Him we might be able to enjoy the delights of Heaven for eternity.
It is a great blessing to be able to be grateful to God for what He has given us, and indeed still gives, us every single day.
To do so is not to dismiss or minimise the difficulties – even the pain and distress – that comes our way.
But we can do so because God Himself has entered into the pain of human life here on earth, and as the writer to the Hebrews puts it: "Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. With Good Friday and Easter Sunday just a few days away, if we are Christian people, we surely would do well to ask ourselves if gratitude is as important in our lives as the Lord would want it to be.