Scripture: Then Peter said “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!’ (Acts 3 verse 6)Reflection:Do you ever wish you could change something in your life for the better? Before he was healed, the lame man in the above story sat at the city gates everyday begging for money. This was his life, the same thing every day, depending on others for survival, and because it was so ‘normal’ for him, perhaps he had become content with the status quo; comfortable with his ‘lot’ in life? It took the intervention of God’s disciples and God’s power to shake him out of his comfortability, and into a healed life of endless possibilities! The same God that healed this lame man and enabled him to jump up and walk, is the same God yesterday, today and forever. He is a God who changes lives for the better. Be warned though - change equals growth, and growth does not always equal comfort - but God never promised us comfort, he promised us abundance! He also promised to journey with us every step of the way… into a healed life of endless possibilities. Vicki Young
Scripture: ‘…the word of the Lord endures for ever.’ (Isaiah 40.8, quoted in 1 Peter 1.24-5)Reflection:Words, words, words… we need them, and we need them to be flexible, different from numbers. Look up ‘word’ in an English dictionary and there will be examples of many uses; look it up in a foreign language dictionary and you get many alternatives. ‘The word of the Lord’ is not like that, not a spoken or written word, but a universal principle. It’s ‘seen’, ‘heard’, grasped as we experience the love which underpins all life. The beginning of this quotation goes ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but…’. It might be a message of despair, but let’s turn it on its head. When we see flowers, we think ‘beautiful’; when we encounter someone admirable, when we think on how Jesus lived and died, we recognise ‘goodness’. Of course flowers do not last for ever, nor do our bodies, but in their moment of glorious life, they give us access to the eternal ‘word’ of creative life and love. How wonderful! David Harmsworth
