There Is An Alternative

I was chatting to my friend Kim yesterday about her anorexia. When she talks about ED she’s talking about ‘Eating Disorders’ not a hospital ‘Emergency Department’. I have to remember this alternative.

The church I grew up in often said things like: ‘Next Sunday, DV, the preacher will be Mr Polkinghorne.’ DV stands for the Latin ‘Deo Volente’ – if God is willing. Rachel’s nursing experience taught her that DV stands for Diarrhoea and Vomiting. She has to remember this alternative.

One day we came home and there were puddles of water under our kitchen sink. Fixing it was beyond my exceedingly limited plumbing abilities. There was the potential for further leakage… There is an alternative – Gordon came round and fixed it this morning.

Hope is one of the great Christmas themes. Hope says that there is an alternative.

Bad news dominates… Covid figures, infection rates, murdered babies, cancelled parties, struggling businesses… Hope says that there is an alternative.

At a personal level I see damaged families falling apart, sickness from which there is no cure, loneliness, bereavement, isolation, anxiety… Hope says there is an alternative.

I went into Lowestoft yesterday – Christmas shopping! As I came out of WH Smith’s there was a group of loud, angry teenage girls walking away shouting obscenities. Another girl was on the floor distressed, apparently injured, being cared for by some adults. I don’t know the story. Hope says there is an alternative.

I shall continue to look for good things to celebrate rather than bad things to despair at – the loving father playing football in the park with his son; the whistling, smiling dog-walker I passed this morning; the friend ‘popping round’ to check on her neighbour.

The advent candle of hope shines with the candles of peace, joy and love. These are alternatives I shall look for…

The fifth central candle is the Jesus candle… my Christian faith says that when the Jesus candle is central then there is an alternative…