Sue shares her thoughts from House Group on Me and You and GOD
ME AND YOU AND GOD
The ME in this is obvious. ME is me, it is my life and from birth through to the end there will always be ME. Whatever life brings, whatever the up and downs there is always a ME.
GOD is also obvious. GOD is always with us, His love is unchanging, and His love is unconditional. Our choir leader, Sarah, sums it up with words she has written in her score ‘God Loves Me – Whatever’. That is so true, God does love us - whatever, and however many times we may mess things up His love is for always. I read this in a magazine recently “Without any doubt, seeing things in their true perspective can be a mighty help when dealing with life’s problems. For Christians, nothing offers a truer perspective than to know that the Risen Jesus is close beside them at all times and in all situations. Sometimes we allow this comfort to be forgotten. This is the thought behind such lines as these:
‘I tramped the pavements cursing God
When there beside me Jesus trod’.
But when we remain aware that Jesus is with us, come what may, we possess a perspective of life that spells victory.”
It’s the word YOU I want to think about. YOU can be almost anyone. It could be your husband, your wife, neighbour, friend/friends, family, church family, care group, colleagues and so on.
No matter where we are in life, whether we be on ‘a high’, or just going along easily, or in the depths of despair the YOU’s is our lives are so important.
When we are ‘on a high’, when things are going well it is the YOU’s we want to share our happiness with. We want to phone them and tell them our good news, invite them to weddings, invite them to our celebrations etc.
We also need the YOU’s in our life when things are ‘jogging along nicely’. We want to have someone to share our day with, talk to someone about the news, have someone as a sounding block etc. I have a friend who lives on her own and like me is also a school secretary. Sometimes she will ring me because she just needs to talk through her day at school with me. Perhaps she will want to tell me some thing her Head teacher has asked her to do, discuss the latest form to be completed for County, or tell me something a parent has said etc. Whatever it is though, it is always something to do with work. That’s because she has no one else to share her day with and she knows that if she phones me I will understand what she is talking about, I will have experienced something similar/have the same forms to complete/the same deadline to meet. Although we are friends and often go out together when she makes these calls we rarely discuss anything about our families or general news and that is because she just needs someone in whom she can share her day, someone to be her sounding block. I am an important YOU to her at that moment in time. This sharing of experiences or frustrations is reciprocated and on occasion she has been my sounding block, the one on whom I have needed to share my day with.
Then when we are down, when life does not seem so good, when problems seem all around us, boy, do we need the YOU’s in our lives then. We need others to support us, to love us, to care for us. I know that in my down times I have truly felt the love of my care group. They have been the people in whom I have shared my cares and burdens and when I have felt I had nothing else to give/cannot pray anymore etc. it is my care group who have loved me, cared for me, prayed me through the difficult times. It is not always Christians either who are important YOU’s in times of trouble. For instance, in our front garden we had a number of rather nice solar lights (some lovely tall, slim elegant looking ones and some pretty ones that looked like butterflies and dragonflies.) Colin loved those lights and every night before he went to bed would open the front door just to look at them. A few weeks ago he opened the door and all the lights had been stolen. These lights probably cost no more than20.00 but poor Colin was so upset. The next day he was out the front and crying so much (as you know he gets very tearful at times) that our neighbours were getting concerned about him. Colin also has a bench in the front garden and he wanted it moved to the back garden but our neighbours would not let him they said to him “No, we expect to see you sitting on there, it would not feel right if you were not there, the bench must stay where it is”. Then in the afternoon some neighbours came round to give Colin some new solar lights. Not the same as had been stolen but nice ones. Colin was going to put these in the back garden but again our neighbours said no they were bought for the front garden. Then another neighbour came round with a security light that he did not need anymore for him and even fixed it up for him. These neighbours were the right YOU’s at the right time for Colin and I thank God for them.
I am sure you could all think of times when the YOU’s in your life have been important, in the good, the ok times and the difficult times. We need to thank God for them and never forget to thank them for being there for us.
Colossians 3 The Message says this:
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offence. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ – the Message – have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives – words, actions, whatever – be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
To finish I have two final thoughts:
One – always remember ME will also always be someone else’s YOU!
Two – the phrase at the beginning was ME AND YOU AND GOD. Notice that it is not ME YOU GOD three separate things but ME AND YOU AND GOD. The dictionary says for AND ‘ a connecting word’. That is so right all three connected together all dependant on each, especially God.
The ME in this is obvious. ME is me, it is my life and from birth through to the end there will always be ME. Whatever life brings, whatever the up and downs there is always a ME.
GOD is also obvious. GOD is always with us, His love is unchanging, and His love is unconditional. Our choir leader, Sarah, sums it up with words she has written in her score ‘God Loves Me – Whatever’. That is so true, God does love us - whatever, and however many times we may mess things up His love is for always. I read this in a magazine recently “Without any doubt, seeing things in their true perspective can be a mighty help when dealing with life’s problems. For Christians, nothing offers a truer perspective than to know that the Risen Jesus is close beside them at all times and in all situations. Sometimes we allow this comfort to be forgotten. This is the thought behind such lines as these:
‘I tramped the pavements cursing God
When there beside me Jesus trod’.
But when we remain aware that Jesus is with us, come what may, we possess a perspective of life that spells victory.”
It’s the word YOU I want to think about. YOU can be almost anyone. It could be your husband, your wife, neighbour, friend/friends, family, church family, care group, colleagues and so on.
No matter where we are in life, whether we be on ‘a high’, or just going along easily, or in the depths of despair the YOU’s is our lives are so important.
When we are ‘on a high’, when things are going well it is the YOU’s we want to share our happiness with. We want to phone them and tell them our good news, invite them to weddings, invite them to our celebrations etc.
We also need the YOU’s in our life when things are ‘jogging along nicely’. We want to have someone to share our day with, talk to someone about the news, have someone as a sounding block etc. I have a friend who lives on her own and like me is also a school secretary. Sometimes she will ring me because she just needs to talk through her day at school with me. Perhaps she will want to tell me some thing her Head teacher has asked her to do, discuss the latest form to be completed for County, or tell me something a parent has said etc. Whatever it is though, it is always something to do with work. That’s because she has no one else to share her day with and she knows that if she phones me I will understand what she is talking about, I will have experienced something similar/have the same forms to complete/the same deadline to meet. Although we are friends and often go out together when she makes these calls we rarely discuss anything about our families or general news and that is because she just needs someone in whom she can share her day, someone to be her sounding block. I am an important YOU to her at that moment in time. This sharing of experiences or frustrations is reciprocated and on occasion she has been my sounding block, the one on whom I have needed to share my day with.
Then when we are down, when life does not seem so good, when problems seem all around us, boy, do we need the YOU’s in our lives then. We need others to support us, to love us, to care for us. I know that in my down times I have truly felt the love of my care group. They have been the people in whom I have shared my cares and burdens and when I have felt I had nothing else to give/cannot pray anymore etc. it is my care group who have loved me, cared for me, prayed me through the difficult times. It is not always Christians either who are important YOU’s in times of trouble. For instance, in our front garden we had a number of rather nice solar lights (some lovely tall, slim elegant looking ones and some pretty ones that looked like butterflies and dragonflies.) Colin loved those lights and every night before he went to bed would open the front door just to look at them. A few weeks ago he opened the door and all the lights had been stolen. These lights probably cost no more than20.00 but poor Colin was so upset. The next day he was out the front and crying so much (as you know he gets very tearful at times) that our neighbours were getting concerned about him. Colin also has a bench in the front garden and he wanted it moved to the back garden but our neighbours would not let him they said to him “No, we expect to see you sitting on there, it would not feel right if you were not there, the bench must stay where it is”. Then in the afternoon some neighbours came round to give Colin some new solar lights. Not the same as had been stolen but nice ones. Colin was going to put these in the back garden but again our neighbours said no they were bought for the front garden. Then another neighbour came round with a security light that he did not need anymore for him and even fixed it up for him. These neighbours were the right YOU’s at the right time for Colin and I thank God for them.
I am sure you could all think of times when the YOU’s in your life have been important, in the good, the ok times and the difficult times. We need to thank God for them and never forget to thank them for being there for us.
Colossians 3 The Message says this:
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offence. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ – the Message – have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives – words, actions, whatever – be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
To finish I have two final thoughts:
One – always remember ME will also always be someone else’s YOU!
Two – the phrase at the beginning was ME AND YOU AND GOD. Notice that it is not ME YOU GOD three separate things but ME AND YOU AND GOD. The dictionary says for AND ‘ a connecting word’. That is so right all three connected together all dependant on each, especially God.
posted by dave b at 6:56 PM
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