Unique Lives

Men’s Shed on Saturday… I joined other old men drinking tea, eating bacon rolls and doughnuts… looking back, reflecting on their lives…

Granddaughter-Hannah yesterday… spent the afternoon with us, Sunday lunch, sitting in the garden… A twenty-year-old looking back, looking forward, reflecting…

Matthew Chapter 1 this morning… reading the beginning of Mattew’s gospel: ‘A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham…’

I find myself musing on unique lives… Everyone with different story to tell… good and bad, success and failure, joys and regrets…

Unremarkable people… Men who’ve been sailors, engineers, firemen, electricians – ordinary men with ordinary homes and families… A young woman from an unimportant English town, a student with a holiday job, making her way through life… ‘Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab’ – people I’ve never heard of, leading to Joseph, an unknown, rural carpenter.

Unpredictable past… Kenny said, ‘My second wife was crazy. I should never have married her.’ Bob talked about his sandwich bar he owned… Our daughter-Jo, an English girl travelling round the world, a Brazilian man, falling in love, Brazilian wedding, producing Hannah, school in Brazil then England… Matthew’s random list of names and narrative that includes rape, immigrants, prostitution, murder, kings, refugees, good-guys, bad-guys

Uncertain plans… Gents talked about hospital appointments, diabetes, prostate cancer, family anxieties, possible holidays, mortality… Hannah talked about finishing university next summer, future plans, getting a job, where, what, who with… Matthew speaks of Joseph’s engagement, Mary’s unexpected pregnancy, proposed divorce, angelic intervention, marriage…

Unbelievable potential… Men with a wealth of lifetime experiences and wisdom, contributing to their families, in their communities, still with unbelievable potential… A young woman who as a young teacher could influence the lives of many children for the good, with her whole life of unbelievable potential before her… Mary gives birth to Jesus – ‘Immanuel’ – which means, ‘God with us’ – a baby who would grow to be a man with unbelievable potential.