Looking in the Right Place

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U2 sung ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’…

Yesterday…

…Walking near the River Blyth, hoping to see some wildlife, we entered a bird-hide beside a stretch of water and sat patiently. There was nothing. We hadn’t found what we were looking for. A bird hide? The birds were certainly hiding!

We walked further, beside the river. It was low tide. There were hundreds of birds – lapwings and cormorants, ducks and geese, gulls and wading birds in the water, on the mud flats. We’d found what we were looking for by looking in the right place!

…Great-niece Hester wrote: ‘A year ago I was stuck in a job a hated…’ She hadn’t found what she was looking for…

She left ‘that job’ and started doing what she loves – singing. ‘I started this earlier this year thinking it would take quite some time for anything to come of it but I’ve been blown away! Nearly fully booked for weddings summer 2026 and just had the craziest December. Thank you so much to all the brides and grooms who’ve chosen me for their special day and to all bars who’ve had me perform for you! You’ve all made my dream come true.’

…Reading about the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: ‘For more that 20 years the Hema and Bira people lived in fear and suspicion. Armed militias emerged. Retaliation followed. Families fled. More than 7,000 lives were lost in the first wave of violence alone.’ They didn’t find what they were looking for.

Hema and Bira worked with the Wycliffe Bible Translators, translating Jesus’ words: ‘ ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you’

‘At a church service where the verse was read aloud, four young men came forward: ‘If we had been shown this verse earlier, and understood the way it’s explained in our language, we would not have ended up killing each other.’

Whatever we’re looking for – wildlife, job-satisfaction, peace – we must ensure that we’re looking in the right place.

16 thoughts on “Looking in the Right Place”

  1. ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you’

    Wonderful words but I don’t think they would have helped any of the victims of Genghis Khan, Stalin, Hitler, Milosevic, Assad, Putin or the many other tyrants who have been responsible for so many innocent deaths.

    Can even a Christian find any love in their heart for such people? I’m not sure whether I would respect them or think them incredibly naïve.

    Peace and love to all for 2026.

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    1. Interesting, Alan. Many Christian martyrs through the centuries from the Roman Empire through to Hitler’s Germany would be witness to that love, and that present day report of Hema and Bira in the Democratic Republic of Congo also speaks clearly of love for enemies.

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  2. Insightful post. One of my favorite U2 songs—I know I’m not alone in that. Doing good —loving our enemies—is impossible for any of us, apart from God. It’s easy to do good for those we love. Doing good for someone who can do nothing in return for us takes something in us that is far greater than we are—God. The sun shines and the rain falls on good people and bad alike. And I agree, we’ve got to exercise discernment in whatever we are doing with our lives. Happy New Year!

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    1. I still appreciate the whole U2 Joshua Tree album, Rainer. I love it that the important general principle of looking in the right place to find what we’re looking for (as in the Wizard of Oz) gains a deeper truth when overlaid with Christian faith.

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