Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
Our Golden Retriever, Henry, enjoys life to the full. He is such a happy dog, always full of fun, always wagging his tail, and always wanting to be close to us. Walks are, of course, his greatest joy of all, especially on our day off, when there is a promise of a really substantial walk. When Henry goes for a walk you know how much he is enjoying himself because his lovely fluffy tail is right up in the air - like a sail in the wind. A lovely lady we knew in our first parish described dog walks as "television for dogs", because for them walks are a way of feeding their minds - giving them something to think and to dream about.
Scott Harrison writing in Daily Guideposts described his dog Sam as his "best dog, ever." Sam was a field trial dog who found birds and pointed to them with contagious enthusiasm, Sam taught Scott the joy of becoming part of nature. If his point said a bird was hiding in a clump of bushes, it was there. He was so much more than a bird dog, though. Often Scott and Sam would share together lazy lunches in an abandoned apple orchard, and then the snooze that followed afterwards.
Late one afternoon, Sam and Scott became separated. Neither of them were familiar with the area. Scott called and whistled - but no sign of Sam. Scott needed to get back to town for an important appointment, but how could he leave Sam? If Sam finally came back and Scott wasn't there, would he lose him for good? Then Scott remembered a trick an old dog trainer had passed on. He unbuttoned his jacket, removed his shirt and laid it on the ground under the branches of a small bush, and then returned home, and then worried all night.
But when Scott returned the next morning there was Sam curled up with his nose under the sleeve of Scott's shirt. He looked up and wagged his tail. "Where've you been friend?" his eyes seemed to say. "I've been waiting for you all night. But I knew you'd come back."
Sam's simple unquestioning trust reminds me how trusting and loving Henry is, and how he seems to be so content just to be with me, to trust my every action, and to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. I can't help thinking that all of us need to learn from Henry and Sam in our relationship with God. We need to learn to accept that God cares about each one us so much, and that he loves us more than we can ever really know or deserve. As Jesus said: "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:26-27)
God wants us to receive joy and contentment simply through being with him and sharing our lives with him and to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33). So I pray that you too will be able to trust God with every aspect of your life.
May God bless you all.