Fast Food from Paris…

I have just spent a few great days in Paris doing the tourist thing and taking in the city. What a beautiful city with loads of fine buildings. 

A couple of things struck me while I was there:

Firstly my previous experience of the French people was that I didn’t find them that helpful or friendly. During my stay I saw or experienced a number of examples where people went out of their way to help others (or me!).  So… I learnt that stereotypes are indeed very unhelpful and I can see lead to prejudice. Kindness I observed transforms peoples lives even in little ways…so what gifts can I leave with others in that way?

My wife and I had a great tour of the Opera house. It was built with different entrances – one for the wealthy and the one for the not so well off ( even though it was a republic!). From one perspective I could quite easily condemn this separation and inequality based on money. On the other hand I was challenged – how often do I enjoy privilege because it makes me feel different or better than others. Business class travel, what university  I attended etc I could go on. What is it in us that we want externla ‘things’ to validate who we are? Ummm.

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Mist and Faith

When the mist clears

A couple of weeks ago I was on holiday by the sea. For 2-3 days there was a sea fog that has shrouded the coast, hiding what I knew to be beautiful scenery and wonderful vistas.

I knew that the scenery was still there, and I knew it was breathtaking – I believed it was there I just couldn’t see it. I had ‘faith’ that the scenery was still there.

I believe that this is a good metaphor for my Faith, the Christian faith.. There is a quote in the Bible that reflects this:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Heb 11:1)

It is about being confident and sure of the hidden things. It is also about ‘knowing’ without having to see.

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Light and Shadow

Light and Shadow

I was walking recently in the mountains and the sun was shining at an angle on the hillside opposite – casting shadows of the low drystone walls, trees & barns transforming what might have been a fairly uninteresting uniform hillside into a picture full of texture and beauty.

A couple of days earlier I was browsing though my son’s book on digital photography. It has 2 shots of the same scene. One shot on a cloudy day and one on a sunny day with strong shadows.

For me, life is a little like the hillside or the attractive photo. It has light and shadow. Often we focus on the light, though without shadow the light wouldn’t be meaningful. Yet how often do I expect life to be in with dark – to be all light and no shadow. Shadow for me represents the difficult times, the sufferings in life, the pain, yet without it we would not appreciate the light and we would not become the people that we can be.

In the Bible there is a metaphor of gold being refined (purified) by fire. (Zechariah 13:9 ) Fire though painful and difficult brings around the transformation of the impure Gold into something pure and of value. As a Christian I am to expect suffering… though often in practice I expect to avoid it!

So this challenges me to view what I call difficulties in a different light, to ask myself if I can appreciate them (if not at the time then after) and not to ask God to teach me though them.

What could you learn from your ‘shadows’ by looking at them from a different angle?

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