Genna

Oh Lord Hear My Voice featuring Lucy Stimpson Maynard from the album “Where Would I Be Without You”? recorded and produced by Ross Gill

I am delighted to announce that the Shearsmith family has a new addition – a beautiful girl Labrador puppy (I do not like the word “bitch”) who today is 9 weeks old. She joins our menagerie of two rabbits -Wispa and Fluff ball and two tortoises Fred and Betty – yes Caroline and I are animal lovers!

So after settling in and feeling safe and secure the training has begun – well attempted! Genna wants to experience the whole world through her mouth and, as there is so much that could go into that inquisitive space that would do her harm we constantly have to say “No Genna!” Of course she does not understand and probably thinks that we are out to spoil her fun – but then she does not know what we know – does not know what is good for her and what is not. What we hope she will gradually learn is that Caroline and I can be trusted and even if she does not understand why we sometimes say no she accepts that it is for her own good ( well that’s the theory anyway!)

So I expect you know where this is going! It is so easy to believe that God does not want us to have fun and for that reason he has created a whole list of things that we can’t do – the Ten Commandments being the “Big List” of “Thou shalt nots.” However the Ten Commandments can pretty much be summarised as “Love God and love your neighbour” – oh what a different world we would have – a world that was always God’s original plan- if all humankind practiced those two things- Love God and love your neighbour.

Some say that the Ten Commandments are a restriction to our freedom but in fact they create freedom by giving us a framework in which to live in a world founded on love and not hate and fear. I seem to remember the Alpha course giving the example of young children playing a game of football which would be chaos if there was no set of rules and a referee to ensure that the rules were adhered to.

Of course if Genna is to trust in Caroline and me we must be consistent in the way we treat her. So is God consistent in the way that He treats us? It may not always appear so but God is love and “As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts ( Isaiah 55.9)

Genna may not understand all that we do but she will hopefully trust more and more that we love her very much and so would only do the best for her – well if we can do that for Genna how much more will God do that for us?

Quote of the week

I have no fear of what the future holds because I know who holds the future

Every Day With Jesus