Yesterday we heard…
…Prince George started at Eton College. This elite private school taught his father – and twenty British prime ministers… Fees are around £65,000 p.a… I’m not part of that way of life.
…Monty Don is no longer presenting Gardner’s World… singer Sir Tom Jones is stepping back from judging on The Voice… Famous people who are good at what they do, show me what I’m not…
I’ve just read…
…John Herschel made the first photograph on a glass plate, on this day, 9th September, in 1839, He was a remarkable mathematician, philosopher, botanist, astronomer, chemist, inventor… I’m not an academic like John Herschel.
Social media can emphasise our inadequacies, tell us we’re not good enough, not smart enough, not successful enough. It’s easy to think less of ourselves by focusing on what we’re not…
Good Christian friends contrast this with what we are as Christians… a child of God… a new creation… a forgiven and re-instated prodigal son…
Older friends tell me ‘I’m not the man I used to be…’, ‘I can’t — like I used to.’
Twenty-six-year-old Tyler Sewell-Nicholas writes about working with older people in September’s ‘Premier Christianity:
‘We live in a culture that often sidelines older people… spoken about as if they are past their best… Yet… I see how false that narrative is. Older people are not a burden to be managed or a problem to be solved. They are full of wisdom, humour, history and spiritual depth; image bearers of God.’
I read Amos telling king Amaziah: ‘I’m not a professional prophet, and was never trained to be one. I’m just a shepherd and I take care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord called me away from my flock and told me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people in Israel…’
Recognising what I’m not is not always a bad thing… I’m not royalty, clever or famous… but I shouldn’t think less of myself… Proud of who I am, I can, like Amos, be given an unexpected God-given purpose.
malcolmsmusings.org 