How do you view time? I think our perception and attitude to time differs with seasons of life. When we're young and waiting for our birthday or Christmas to arrive, time seems to stretch forever and we wish for the days to pass more quickly. Maybe, if you're a parent of young children, there don't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done, and you could certainly use a few extra hours sleep at night! Later, life might be filled with work meetings, social appointments, holidays. As we get older, or if our health is not what it once was, we may not have the energy or fitness we'd want, and sometimes we might even feel lonely: time may then seem to slow down as it stretches out before us. Maybe this is just a glib overview, but for each of us, although we have the same allotted hours in a day and the hands of the clock move at the same speed, our perceptions of time may be very different.
It's not wrong to reflect on the past or to plan for the future. But how many of us are good at living in the moment? God has given you this season, this day, this moment right now. How are you using it? Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I
am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19 What has gone has gone. We cannot change it, but we can learn from it. We should not dwell unduly on the past, but move on. We look to the future, but not so much that we forget to live in this moment. What lies ahead is only known by God, but that does not mean we shouldn't wonder constantly where God is in whatever we are facing, and what God's preferred outcomes might be.
And God always has great plans: The Message version of the above passage says "Be alert. Be present. I'm about to do something brand new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it?" Be careful that you are not so wrapped up in the past or planning so much for the future that you miss
what is happening in this moment.
I believe this is true for us as a Church Fellowship as it is for individuals. Yes, we need to give thanks for all that has gone before us. Yes, we need to collectively discern God's future plans for our Church. But we also need to collectively be in this moment and notice all that God is doing in the lives of our congregation, for our fellowship as a whole, for the community
around us. We need to give thanks and pray and act.
God is on the move in Maidstone Baptist Church, He's about to do something brand new - Hallelujah!! It's bursting out, do you see it? I feel God's presence very powerfully in Church and many of you have commented that you do too. Let us all be alert, be present and be focused
on, and listening to, God. Let our prayers and praise be worthy of our almighty God.
Nigel