July Letter
“Getting to Know You”
My wife Connie sometimes despairs of my love for jokes, the feebler the better. So here is one I came across recently, about a Scottish boy – let’s call him Hamish – who was always miserable and fed up. The minister of his church saw him out and about one sunny day and said “Cheer up, Hamish. It’s a beautiful day, and the good Lord has given you a nose to smell, and feet to run”. This did not help, as Hamish replied glumly “I think the good Lord got it mixed up with me. He made my feet smell, and my nose run”.
Do you know, there was a time when I couldn’t find one good thing to say about Connie. There was nothing there at all.
You may find that really shocking, but I would have to be honest and say that situation went on for quite a number of years. No feeling, no emotion….. In fact, it went on for over twenty years……
……..and then I met her for the first time!
You see, I couldn’t say anything good about someone I didn’t know. If you were to ask me now, I could extol her virtues for a very long time. I spend every day with her, and every day appreciate something new about her.
If you asked me to praise somebody else, it wouldn’t be quite as easy in most cases, because I am less in their company, and wouldn’t necessarily have very much to say (this is not so for the wonderful folk at Hayes Free Church!).
In the same way, you can’t expect to arrive in church on Sundays and be swept away in a wonderful expression of praise to God if you don’t know him as the loving Father he is, and if you haven’t taken time each week to be with him in prayer and Bible reading.
It only remains for me to wish you all well for the remainder of this summer, whether you are staying at home or going away on holiday.
Tony