Thought for the Day- Friday 7 August

Thought for the Day – Friday 7th August 

‘If you had one hundred sheep and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it?  And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders.  When you arrived, you would call together your friends and neighbours to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found.  In the same way, heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away.’

‘’ (Luke 15: v4-7) 

Someone close to me recently noticed a diamond was missing from her engagement ring and although there were other diamonds, the ring was immediately taken to the jewellers to have a suitable replacement fitted and a thorough check carried out on the mountings of the other diamonds.  Every day until its return, she would bemoan how naked her finger looked without that special ring.  Its return was greeted with the broadest of broad smiles and the third finger of her left hand was no longer naked.

I also remember days of playing five-a-side football two or three days a week and I loved it.  I enjoyed the banter, the competition and the exercise and I made a lot of friends doing this.  Occasionally someone who had agreed to play to make up the ten players required let us know they couldn’t make it (too late for us to organise a replacement) or just failed to turn up.  We all hated when this happened because playing with an incomplete complement i.e. five playing against four took away the fairness and challenge of the game.  No matter how hard the four tried, they had little chance of beating the team with five.  But this also ruined the game for the five because they wouldn’t try as hard to make it a bit easier on their friends on the other side so basically the one who didn’t turn up wasted the game for the other nine.

When thinking about today’s contribution, I chose to include my own analogies purely to confirm the story about the lost sheep that Jesus told is every bit as relevant today as it was when He walked this earth.  It is also to highlight the aspect of how anxious and uncomfortable we feel when something is missing that makes us feel incomplete.  I believe we can all relate to this and I’m sure you would all be well able to provide many examples of your own when you stop and think of this bible story.  

Have an enjoyable weekend and stay safe.

Prayers

Loving God, 

We pray that you will fill those areas of our lives that have a feeling of incompleteness about them whether down to a missing family member, a missed opportunity or regrets that we have never tried to repair.  Give us the courage to do the things you would have us do while we still have time to act. Amen.