"what3words" describe you?

A newspaper story caught my attention a wee while back. It was about a young woman called Jess Tinsley. She and her 3 friends decided to do a five mile circular walk in Hamsterley Forest in Count Durham one Sunday evening. After 3 hours they were hopelessly lost. At 10.30pm they called 999 and the the call handler told them to download an app called what3words. 

The friends followed that advice and with the information the call handler received the Search and Mountain Rescue Team found the soaked and freezing walkers. 

I need to explain! what3words is an app that you can download to your mobile phone. The developers of the app have divided the world into 57 million squares, each measuring 3m by 3m and each square has a unique, randomly assigned three-word address. If you find yourself trouble or danger then communicating what3words to the rescue services has the potential to lead to your rescue.

I have found myself reflecting on this fantastic resource and in my thinking broadened the idea out to all of life, especially to the development of our characters. And so if you were to send your exact life location to friends what3words would describe you?

The Apostle Paul’s teaching in Colossians chapter three brings with it this challenge - the '3m by 3m square' we could be standing in today might contain the following words:

◻︎greed, impurity, lust

◻︎anger, rage, malice

◻︎slander, gossip, envy

Alternatively, it could contain the following what3words:

 
◻︎Compassion, kindness, humility
◻︎gentleness, patience, love 

what3words describe you? 

A life yielded to God; one dependent on the Holy Spirit will exhibit:

◻︎ love, joy, peace

◻︎ patience, kindness, goodness

◻︎ faithfulness, gentleness, self-control 

(Galatians 5:22)

(picture - Eaglesham Parish Church)

travelling on the nightsleeper

Over the last three weeks I have been gripped by the BBC drama Nightsleeper. Set on a train travelling from Glasgow to London, two strangers work together to try and avert a disaster after it has been “hack-jacked”. As the train hurtles out of control towards Paddington Station in London one of the employees calls out, “Everything is gone. The only thing we have now is prayer.”

Someone famously said, “There are no atheists on a sinking ship!” Or in this case, a runaway train! That scene from the drama has cause me to reflect that it is often after we have exhausted every option at our disposal that we turn to God in prayer.

That seems such a low bar! What if we raise the bar? What if we move prayer from the extremities of life; the place of utter desperation, to the centre; the place heartfelt devotion? 

Over the last few months I have had a renewed appreciation of the place of quiet at the start of each day. To quote William Booth from last week’s reflection, I endeavour to “rise every morning sufficiently early to wash, dress, and have a few minutes, not less than five, in private prayer.” I hold a cup of good coffee in my hand, have an open Bible on my lap, and seek to reorientate my life, through prayer, in a Godward direction for the day ahead. 

And if we are looking for inspiration on how to raise the bar in prayer, then I have personally found it in Ann Lamott’s book in which she outlines three essential prayers which she refers to as, Help, Thanks, Wow. 

Of course, those three essential prayers are woven into the greatest of all prayers, the Lord’s Prayer, that forms part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:5-13). I repeat that prayer at the beginning of each new day and it continues to move me; the words contain an abiding relevance in every circumstance of life.

Observe how the bar slowly rises in Ann Lamott’s writing, beginning with:

Help

O God, do not be far from me; O my God, hasten to my help" (Psalm 71:12).

Thanks

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Philippians 4:6).

Wow

Who is like you -
    majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
    working wonders? (Exodus 15:11).

May I humbly suggest that although that outline is helpful, Jesus’ teaching on prayer begins with the bar already set very high. 

He invites us, first of all, to be caught up in the wonder of God’s character - “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:5). Wow.

From that height a spirit of gratitude develops. Thanks. 

Until we finally fall facedown acknowledging our need of his grace and mercy. Help.

Putting the essential prayers in that order enables us to focus on God above all else.  

(picture - Paisley Abbey from Sauchil Hill)

 

life long resolutions!

On December 6th 1849, William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army wrote his “Resolutions”. He was 20 years old. They became for him a measure by which he judged the fruitfulness of his Christian life over the next six decades. They are worth pondering and, in my humble opinion, emulating…

1. That I will rise every morning sufficiently early to wash, dress, and have a few minutes, not less than five, in private prayer.

2. That I will, as much as possible, avoid all that babbling and idle talk, in which I have so lately so sinfully indulged.

3. That I will endeavour in my conduct and deportment before the world and my fellow servants especially to conduct myself as a humble, meek and zealous follower of Christ, and by serious conversation and warning endeavour to lead them to think of their immortal souls.

4. That I will read no less than four chapters of God’s Word every day.

5. That I will strive to live closer to God, and to seek after holiness of heart and leave providential events with God.

6. That I will read over this every day or at least twice a week.

He concluded his “Resolutions” in the following way, “I feel my own weakness, and without God’s help I shall not keep these resolutions. The Lord have mercy on my soul.”

I believe that every Christian who has ever grown in their knowledge of God and become effective for him in this world has had a similar aim as William Booth. How should we then live?

We ought to aspire to the Apostle Paul’s teaching to the Colossians believers:

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (2:6-7).

(Picture - short ferry crossing to the Island of Easdale)