Relentless

Maybe it’s because I’m getting older. Maybe it’s because I’m getting wiser. Maybe not. But it seems to me that the world is just relentless. Things come again and again. I guess they always have, but now I notice in a way I didn’t before. When I was younger everything seemed liked an adventure. Each big moment had it’s own magic. And when one had finished, I was already looking forward to the next. I remember when I first used to preach. I would preach every now and again. I loved it. And when I finished one talk I’d already be looking forward to preparing the next. And, I wanted to preach more! I would happily have dome it every week, even though I was teaching at the time. Now I do preach most weeks. and have done for many years. And the feeling is different. Sermons come round often. Relentlessly. It’s hard to keep up sometimes. And I find that with life. Everything seems to come round more often. There’s less time between events, challenges, things I need to prepare or organise. Perhaps it’s because I fill time with so many things and never really give myself time to stop, or take a break. I am my own worst enemy. I say yes to too any things. A few years a I decided to let go of some things for this very reason - life was relentless. I did. I let go of some things. But then I trained as a counsellor and picked up a whole new set of things. Maybe that’s ok. Maybe it’s not so good. I wonder if Jesus ever thought the same: that life was relentless. After all he never got a break from those who were trying to kill him, or the attacks of the evil one who wanted to to stop him,. His disciples never quite seemed to get what was going on - certainly while Jesus lived. The people were always following him, wanting him to heal them or help them or feed them. And, Jesus knew and understood where it was all going to end. Having that hanging over him must have made it feel relentless. And yet, he was the most content person ever to have lived. .How was that possible? Perhaps Jesus had grasped the bigger picture in a way I have not. Perhaps Jesus was secure in the magnificent love of his Father in a way I am not. Perhaps Jesus really did understand that the universe is a perfectly safe place to be when you are help in the Father’s love. perhaps I would do well to learn from Jesus. Perhaps you would too.