Dear Friends,
How positive a person are you? I’m definitely a ‘glass half full’ person, and on a day to day basis this works for me. I thank God every morning that I wake up, and as a morning person I love to hear the dawn chorus.
I am in awe of the blackbirds who chirrup their way into the day and it reminds me of Matthew ch6 v 26, “look at the birds of the air they do not plant or harvest, or store grain, yet your Father in Heaven takes care of them”. I delight at the new daily growth of the spring/summer flowers with their vibrant colours and spectacular shapes v 27 “can worry make you live longer? why worry about clothes, look how the wild flowers grow, they don’t have clothes”.
But the crux of these passages for me comes in v 30 “God gives so much beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown onto the fire tomorrow. He will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith?”
Even though I am so positive around the awe and wonder of creation, I increasingly find myself despairing for the future generations of our planet, although I have my opinions on global warming which sometimes conflicts with the ‘experts’.
I worry mainly about AI and the effect it will have on a generation who are growing up ever dependent on technology and becoming more distant with each other as a result. In a world where ‘influencers’ and ‘celebrities’ form some of the most unbeknown but important relationships in the eyes of many people, I fear that the wrong heroes are being worshipped. Technology has created so many problems and it now tries to correct things with solutions. We are being told that many people are lacking ‘something’ in their lives. Whether it be spirituality, therapy, a presence (human or divine) or just a one to one human contact, we are all essentially connected to each other by the very nature of being human. So how do we, in our senior years, get the message over to the younger generations that truly meaningful relationships need at least some human interactions? How can we instil the message that we need to be grateful for the gifts God gave us, to be mindful of creation, and sometimes just to BE?
I could go on at length but that would bring more negative thoughts! Keep praying, hoping and believing that we can connect and make a difference every day in our own and other people’s lives.
Let’s keep our glass half full at least!
Janet Virr (Heckmondwike)