The Headlines.
Man armed with Crossbow shot dead by Police
Israel West Bank hospital raid kills three militants
HSBC fined £57.4m for customer deposit failings
Three US Soldiers killed in Jordan attack named
Delivery driver threatened and robbed of parcels
Oh my goodness, as I write this reflection, these are the news headlines. What is going on in the world? Why is there so much doom and gloom? One thing I say regularly is, “Why can’t people just be nice to each other?” Even at the age of 31, I still don’t understand why people can’t just be nice and accept that your views may differ to someone else’s and vice versa, but that’s ok, let’s move on. Maybe that is my naivety.
So, I thought I would give you some good news, or interesting facts, to brighten up your newsfeed and emails today.
1. The most remote place in the world is the Tristan da Cunha islands in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. They’re 2,434km from Saint Helena, the nearest inhabited place. Imagine Mum sends you out for groceries but the local supermarket is closed? That’s a long trip.
2. Pineapples take two years to grow. I will think differently when I eat my next cheese and pineapple on sticks.
3. The deepest place on Earth is the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. It’s 36,201 feet (11,034m) deep. That’s almost seven miles!
4. Acacia trees in Africa communicate with each other. They emit gasses to alert other trees to produce the toxin tannin, which protects them from hungry animals.
5. This is the most important one of all and is especially for a very good friend of mine who loves his cups of tea!! The price of tea and milk is decreasing - WOHOO!! Discounts and lower prices for milk and tea saw shop price inflation fall to 2.9% from 4% in December.
I am pretty sure when God made Heaven and Earth - as detailed in Genesis - the headlines at the beginning of this reflection were far from what he imagined life would be like or what he wanted for the world. He perhaps imagined more of the amazing news and facts which I have just shared.
One thing I hear all the time when people realise I am a practicing Christian is, “Well, this is what your God has done with the world” with anything negative and it really does irritate me. I simply reply and say, “I think you’ll find a lot of the issues which you are referring to are actually man made and not gifted by God.” And following further discussions, and when we get down to the nitty gritty, the real reason that something has happened doesn’t tend to be because God gave it us. It is more than likely human greed, disrespect or anger - pretty much one of the commandments (Exodus 20) tend to have been broken or breached to get us into the situation which we then face.
If we think back to World War One, yes there was fighting, yes it was an absolute abhorrent time and should never have happened. But even then there was moments of amazement, like when on Christmas Day 1914 the British and German Armies stopped fighting and simply had a game of football. I personally think that if we had these individuals - who took the brave step of starting a simple game of football, extending the hand of friendship - as role models and leaders today it would be a very different world.
Unfortunately, these people didn’t make it to be Prime Ministers or World Leaders but maybe it is something that we can learn from and truly start living the Lord’s Prayer … “forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
I do hope that I have brought some joy into your reading today. Shall we share together this prayer:
Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for the world which you have created and have given us. We are sorry for the times in which we have contributed to the worlds destruction. As we read and hear about the horrendous things that are happening in our world please grant us your protection to keep us from harm and to show compassion and love towards others.
Lord, please be with all those who are living in war torn countries, or facing famine and uncertainty, or suffering of any kind. Amen.
Verity Almond
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