Advent At Home #4 - The Storm Will End

 
Someone mentions something, and it's a bit 'left field' - not quite what I was expecting. And then this theme crops up over and over in just a few days, and I think "OK, maybe this is what I should be thinking about right now" [and in my more spiritual moments, I think "Is God trying to get me to understand something here?"]

I blame Mags, she started it - in her post last Sunday, she linked to an Advent YouTube talk she has done for her church, about the storm on the lake. The disciples are in the boat, Jesus is asleep, and there's a great storm. And they are terrified, they wake him up and say "Jesus! we're going to drown" and he replies "Where is your faith?". Mags said maybe Jesus wasn't telling them off for not having any faith, but rather questioning them about where their faith was placed. [you can watch Mags in the clip below, explaining it further]

Then I was reading the BBC news website, and there was a piece about the artist Charlie Mackesy [one of these days I may get a copy of The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse,,,] and his artworks full of hope, and he said "Don't give up, the storm ends"

And then I was sorting out some books and a greetings card fell out. One I had sent to myself, in 1993. I was on a training course with my work colleagues, and in that sleepy session straight after lunch the trainer came round with a box of blank greeting cards. We had to take one at random, turn it over, and consider what the picture was saying, and write a message to ourselves about it, We then put the card in the envelope and added our name and address. The trainer said that in the next few months, he would post these out. This was my picture, a big yacht, buffeted by the waves. And sure enough, our cards did arrive eventually, when we had forgotten all about them. And we showed each other what we had written, and commented on how relevant it was [or wasn't, in some cases]

And reading my card again, 27 years later, when we're all feeling a bit buffeted by the storms of the pandemic, and the boat's rocking, the words are very comforting. Yes, there is a storm, but it will pass, and we must keep our faith in Jesus.

The storm may roar about me, my heart may low be laid, 

but God is round about me, how can I be afraid?