Unchanging love
My friend Simon recently took this stunning photo of my tree in Richmond Park. At least, he called it Kate’s tree although the ownership could be disputed with the King as strictly speaking it is in the Royal Park! It is the tree that inspired the Gift of Blessing Trust logo.
Winter brings stark beauty as the low hanging sun shines through the intricately latticed branches of the storm-torn tree. Deep roots meant that this silhouette still speaks of hope instead of burning as firewood.
Here is the thing about roots - they go down. I’ve been studying theology again, cranking the brain back into action as I consider the nature of God and my favourite part has been seeing that when Jesus goes low, the Father raises him high. The elevation of humility is at the centre of who God is. As 2023 rolls in and we wrestle the decorations back into the loft, we can make the mistake of thinking that God’s Christmas visit to a stable was a one-off gesture of divine humility. Actually, when Jesus described himself as gentle and humble, it was a description of the eternal nature of God, not a 33-year blip. Jesus showed us that’s who God is. Before God, our ideas of hierarchy are turned upside down. If God takes the lowest place, that’s where we want to go.
God went low to raise us up. We are called to follow. If we want fruitful lives that withstand the storms, we need lives that go deep and low. There were plenty of storms in ’22 (political, global and financial) and I suspect more to come in ‘23, so we need to dig our roots deep.
How? At the turn of the year, what could be better than following Paul and pray that we are rooted in the love of God? As we humbly depend on God’s love for us, following his lead to love others, our little root tendrils grow into strong taproots, and we flourish and grow into the likeness of Christ.
In a scarily changing world, here is where we can securely root our lives – in God’s unchanging love. 2022 saw huge changes for me personally as all my sons danced down the aisle to marry gorgeous girls! Much joy but also huge adjustments and so I am glad that as we enter 2023, God says, “I am the LORD; I change not” (Malachi 3:6). I continue to have days where I sorely miss Trevor and so I am thankful that God’s loving comfort is steady even when I am not! God changes not. Whatever 2023 holds, we know the same Jesus who loves us enough to have plundered hell for us; the one who tenderly embraced little children still embraces us.
Words Thomas Cowper wrote hundreds of years ago hold true for 2023; God says to each of us,
Can a woman's tender care
cease towards the child she bare?
Yes, she may forgetful be,
yet will I remember thee.
Mine is an unchanging love,
higher than the heights above,
deeper than the depths beneath,
free and faithful, strong as death.
It continues to be my greatest joy seeing people encounter that love as I minister in different places, whether for the first or umpteenth time. We have wonderful feedback from the different events this year with many profound encounters with God. One final story – it was a particular delight to end the year leading someone to know Jesus and then to be able to link up her son who had been suicidal with a prison chaplain. As I look ahead to 2023, I am hoping to finish my next book on Grieving with Hope. I am so grateful to all of you who support this ministry of Gift of Blessing Trust.
Happy New Year!
