Parrots don’t always behave very well. We sometimes squabble over who should have the highest perch, or who should have exclusive access to a nut-laden tree. And although we usually pair up for life, it has been known for some of us to have the odd affair on the side.
So, what about humans then? Well, humans are a great deal worse. They make their lives a misery through their wars and conflicts and greed and self-interest. Only yesterday, I found myself chewing up my owner’s newspaper, and ‘digested’ the headlines about the conflicts in Israel and Gaza, Iran and Sudan, as well as in Russia and the Ukraine. Each one of these conflicts brings Hell to Earth for ordinary human beings. And it seems to me that humans share a common trait with those lemmings who choose to launch themselves off into the great abyss.
So, for all of the countless humans caught up in these terrible conflicts, why carry on? What is there left for them to live for? And my answer to that question picks up on last week’s blog, because it all comes down to ‘love.’ Love is what most of God’s creatures strive for. And that’s because love is the light of the lamp that draws us closer towards God and Jesus, even in the very darkest of times. And it is love’s partner, faith, that propels us there. Faith is the energy that keeps us searching, because faith is an action which never stands still. It's all about searching for love, truth and compassion. It’s about searching for a reason, a purpose, a meaning and a direction. And it’s about believing in something that is so much better than what we are currently experiencing; -eternal life in Heaven. Faith is about stepping outside the limitations of our five senses, and the limitations of our physical existence, towards something that is bigger, greater and more wonderful than we can ever comprehend.
That, quite simply, is why God and Jesus have provided us with both love and faith. Because without them, this world, for many, would be totally unbearable. But with faith, there is always hope, and with love, there is something more beautiful than words can ever express. And it’s in the darkness of human strife that they shine most brightly. A bit like my feathers on a sunny, Summer’s Day.
“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.”
(Corrie ten Boon: [1892-1983]: Christian writer who survived internment in a Nazi concentration camp)
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
(Corrie ten Boon: As above)
“Leave the broken, irreversible past in God’s hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.”
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