I am sharing this photo again today taken by Teresa Wills near Rosscarbery, West Cork (Irl)
This flock of sheep certainly had only 1 priority during the current heatwave and that was shelter. They can be clearly seen taking shelter under the big tree with temperatures across Ireland hitting above 30C in many places, with a record in Shannon Airport with 32C. This 32C was last seen in Ireland back in 1976.
Thought on Saturday – July – 30/06/2018
‘Often the first sign of friendship is that we are delighted to discover the world in a similar way. We find ourselves laughing at the same jokes, enjoying the same novels, sharing other friends. We treasure the same things. Similarly we are God’s friends not by thinking things about God but seeing things with God, through God’s eyes as it were.’ ~Timothy Radcliffe
Good and faithful friends are such treasures. We would simply be lost without them. Life would indeed be difficult, lonely and frustrating if we didn’t have the company of friends. There is a world of a difference between a friend and an acquaintance. An acquaintance is someone we know through work or someone who lives in the same area. We may know many acquaintances but our real and true friends can often be counted in one hand.
It would be nice to think of God as a friend rather than an acquaintance. As a friend God is in touch with our every need. Rather than someone aloof, distant and separate, God is someone who is close and near. There is a lovely line in one of Paul’s letter to the Romans when he says: “If God is for us, who can be against us”. It is comforting to know that we are not on our own. There are times in our lives when it does feel like an uphill struggle. Some people it seems are against us, time is against us, circumstances outside of our control are against us, life is against us and even sometimes it seems God is against us.
Pages, books and libraries can be filled with things written about God, but there is one absolute certainty, God is not against us. God is never out to get us, never out to make life difficult; never out to trip us up. God is our friend and always will be. Timothy Radcliffe explains it very well: God is our friend because God is with us through absolutely everything. In the midst of these beautiful warm midsummer days, it is good to appreciate that in God’s eyes we are indeed special, loved and always included.
