I’m delighted to report that a new book of reflections, Guided into the truth, is now available through Morning Star Publishing.

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On the day I called, you answered me,
you increased my strength of soul. (Psalm 138:3)

This cry of the heart aptly describes the human condition – being in need. The strength we ask for is not physical but strength to ‘deal’ with what life throws at us – strength of soul. If you ask and keep asking and are never answered, you’re likely to give up. The fact that you’re reading this means that you have felt ‘answered’ or have not lost hope. My prayer is that you continue to feel strengthened by our God.

As we renew our ministry with young people, there are any number of reasons why they would want to feel strengthened: dealing with family or friends, the demands of study or their own ’stuff’. The need is there. We can share our experience of being strengthened and/or supply them with opportunities to ask for strength. An answer is a prayer away.

Have a great week…and term!
Patrick

We journey together.

Our task

For those in our care

Is to point the way.

This can be a daunting prospect

Through our own stumbles

Or uncertainty.

We must remember

The focus is Love

The One who is love

Who loved each of us

Into being.

If we journey

With love

In love

Attending to each image of Love

We find that

The journey

And destination

Are One

When we think

Of the moon

It is likely to be

In its radiant fullness

Which can provide

So much light

On a clear evening.

Today

The moon

Revealed

A shy sliver

As it rose

Against the early morning sky

The sliver

Was orange

Reflecting

The not-yet-risen sun

Such a sliver

Speaks to me

The most.

Ethereal

Achingly beautiful.

Moments pass

I want to experience

that beauty

again

but

somehow

in a clear sky

the moon is invisible

Shy?

Just waiting

The right moment

To next reveal

Another side

Of your glory

When Jesus realised that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. (John 6:15)

Clearly, Jesus does not subscribe to the dictum ‘no publicity is bad publicity’. As he says later in John’s Gospel his ‘kingdom is not of this world’. He eschews personal fame because he is doing his Father’s will and works. Jesus’ antidote to the lure of fame is to seek solitude – inferring that he would pray. This passage makes me wonder, ‘how easily am I seduced by fame?’

In an interconnected world that feeds and is fed by social media, young people can see being ‘liked’ as crucial. Yet we see again and again how celebrities are ‘burned’ by the bright lights – in one way or another. We do well to encourage the young people in our care to discover and use their God-given gifts and be true to themselves. In so doing they will be doing God’s will. There is nothing wrong with fame that comes from goodness, but fame is not an end in itself.

Have a great week…and break!
Patrick

Eyes closed

Man snuggled

Against woman

Against wall

Of the train carriage

Arm of one placed

Lovingly

Around the other

Long day

hard work

A study in

shared fatigue

At day’s end

Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage (Ps 27:14)

The Psalms echo down the millennia because they name the human condition and point the way. Any number of matters can try our patience or our hope. We can feel assaulted from without. Maybe we should look within, letting our ‘heart take courage’. We can remember all that God has done for us in the past. We can trust in our God-given gifts and talents. Do we ‘wait for the Lord’ or do we wait for the fog of our own emotions to lift long enough for us to realise that the Lord never went away?

From my years ministering to teenagers, I believe that ‘let your heart take courage’ is a timely message for them. The landscape of their lives can seem to be constantly changing. Believing in their God-given gifts and trusting in themselves provides stability in their lives and allows them to ‘be strong’. It also clears the young person’s mind and senses so that they might become aware of God’s presence in their lives.

Have a good week!
Patrick

Your bounty paints

The whole sky

In another morning

Feast for the eyes

And soul.

I want to stay in the moment

And savour

This delight.

Those

Around me

Seem oblivious.

The moment passes

And I am grateful again

For your grace.

I cannot know others’ workings

Yet I wonder:

How are they fed?

Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and shield. (Ps 33:20)

When the going is tough, it is easy to feel isolated. The use of the plural pronoun binds us together. The reality is that we each ‘come undone’ and are in need of assistance. Rather than being unusual this is to be embraced. Yet, it is not ‘on tap’. We must be patient and wait, possibly to hear the ‘still, small voice’ (1 Kings 19:12). This statement of faith and hope rings true across the millennia.

Our task is to guide the young people in our care to have faith and to have patience. This is countercultural in our ‘now’ world. The beauty of faith and patience is that they help us to step back from the demands and worries of the world. They help to give us a fresh perspective. Rather than be tossed one way and another by life’s demands and worries, faith and patience give young people the space to be and to grow into everything God gifted them. No small gift.

Have a great week!
Patrick

I stand dry

Watching

This watery spectacle

Of driving rain

As it drenches

The garden

Whose green bushes

Were lapping up

This bounty

Slender branches

Of a deciduous tree

With last vestiges

Of gold and brown

Allowed rivulets

To course down

Its trunk

This ordinary scene

Jolted me

With its grace