Village Shepherd

One very good way of solving apparently insoluble problems, is to sleep on them. My parents taught me from a very young age that if I wasn't sure what to do about something, I should sleep on it. And this was especially true in relationships. If someone had upset me and I wanted to hit back, the message was always the same - sleep on it. By the next day everything always felt a lot better and I was able to view things more dispassionately.

"Sleep on it" has been a message which has stood me in good stead over the years. If I now find myself in a situation for which I can't see any solution, I generally leave it in abeyance, perhaps for a week or more, until the answer presents itself. And the answer always does present itself eventually, if I can resist rushing in where angels fear to tread and instead wait upon God!

I've always envied those people who instantly come up with the right response to every situation. According to the gospels, Jesus was a master of the quick response, often leaving his opponents gasping with nothing to say. I'd love to be like that, but I'm not. Generally I manage to think of the quick response about four hours later, when the moment has long gone. And when asked for an instant response, usually have no idea how I want to respond until I've thought about the issues for a while and weighed things up. So I usually like to take my time and ponder.

But there have been occasions when I've blurted out something quite apt without thinking, and wondered where on earth my response has come from. Simon Peter had an occasion like that at Ceasarea Philippi, when Jesus asked the gathered disciples what people were saying about him, who they thought he was. The disciples began to tell Jesus what the word was on the street, but Peter blurted out, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus knew immediately that those words had come from the very depth of Peter's being, that they were words from God.

If we're able to be open to God and to trust him, this is indeed one way in which God can communicate both with us and through us. A wonderful way of praying is to allow the Holy Spirit to pray within you, as St Paul recognised in today's reading from Romans. God knows our needs before we ask, so that we can simply ask the Spirit to pray within us and then rest upon God. And sometimes when words spring unbidden to your lips or a verse from the Bible or from a hymn or poem leaps into your mind, it's the Holy Spirit praying within you. When that happens, go with the prayer and let it take you where it will.

In order to really capitalise on God's love and to use it, we need to allow the Holy Spirit plenty of time and space. If I crowd my life so much that I never haveany time for quiet, the Holy Spirit won't have room to work and will be unable to pray within me. And I'll be sending the Holy Spirit messages which say I'm too busy for God. Since God gave us free will and therefore respects our wishes in everything, God will step back and allow me to get on with it. But getting on with it my way, although it may not be the road to complete disaster, certainly won't be the best possible road for me. If I want the best for myself, I need the help of the Holy Spirit. And I can only get that help if I give the Spirit room to manoeuvre, if I allow God time and space in my life.

We are precious, precious beings to God. So much so, that each of us has God within us, through his Holy Spirit. The God within works ceaselessly on our behalf, praying for us and through us, interceding for us, guiding us, helping us. With God on our side like that, nothing can separate us from him or from his love. As St Paul says in today's reading from Romans 8, "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

But it's more even than all of that. Nothing that life itself can throw at us will separate us from God, so that however bad life may seem to be, God will be right there in it with us, working to pull resurrection out of any suffering and to gain the best possible results for us. St Paul put it like this, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ...... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

Through him we conquer life itself, for life within God becomes eternal life, an experience of God's kingdom here on earth which is brought to its fruition after death. And there's no need to fear death, for there's no judgement seat for Christians. "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?" asks St Paul, rhetorically. Those God called, Paul tells us, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Note the past tense. It's already happened, it's sorted. It's sorted for us by Jesus Christ, who was raised to life and is now at the right hand of God, interceding for us.

What an inheritance we have waiting for us! Not only a glorious, amazing life full of power and deep happiness here on earth, but something even better after we die, where there are no more tears, no more pain, no more death. If that's what you want for yourself, just tune in to the God within and let the Spirit pray within you. Or in earthly language, sleep on it!