Paul writes,

 

How is 2017 working out so far? We see in nature there’s a natural rhythm in this created universe. A star is only a star for a certain length of time. Winter gives way to spring, which gives way to summer which then gives way to autumn.  We can view life as one long, uneventful journey, or we can see it as thousands and thousands of unique 24 hour periods that have been gifted to us. What are we going to do with them?

 

John 2 records the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, and it was amazing. Well, guess what! Jesus is still turning water into wine today! Water falls from the sky and feeds grapes which grow and are then made into wine. It’s still a miracle, and is happening every day!

 

For me, 2017 is all about trying to see the miraculous in the everyday.

 

As I’m writing this, I’ve just drank a cup of coffee from Guatemala, and I’ve eaten a jacket potato and prawns. Or we could say, I’ve eaten one thing that was pulled out of the dirt and one thing that was pulled from the sea and drank one thing that used to be a plant in a hot country, and then they all travelled thousands of miles to be on my table. That doesn’t sound particularly normal, or commonplace.

 

There are a million things to fill our minds with wonder this year. A sure fire cure for the blues is filling your lungs full of fresh air, getting your wellies on and walking in the mud up a hill, or sharing a meal with friends, or teaching yourself a new skill. Life is filled with the wonderful, we just have to open our eyes to see it. 

 

And here is the most amazing miracle of all… the God who made the whole world is dying (or died and rose from the dead) to be in a relationship with you. God loves you, designed you, and wants you to know him, obey his good instruction for your life and follow Him this year.  2017… what are you going to do with it?  To really believe it, we need to daily spend time in prayer, and reading what God says in the Bible, then we will be able to understand more fully God’s love for us like it reads below:

 

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  (Ephesians 3 verses 16-21.)

 

God Bless you

Paul Saxon, St John’s School Project Worker