November 3 – Positive!

Written on the wall of a Warsaw Ghetto by a young unknown Jew, when all seemed dark and hopeless was the following statement of faith and trust in God:

'I believe in the sun, even if it does not shine. I believe in love, even though I do not feel it. I believe in God, even of I do not see Him.'

This young man believed in the power of exercising control over our thoughts. Just another unknown author who wrote: 'Sow a thought, and you reap an act. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.'

Both of these individuals believed that good can come out of evil, and what we are/become is a result of what we think. Progress is often slow, and great results cannot be achieved at once. We must be prepared to advance step by step, one day at a time. We must sow before we can reap – in the meanwhile waiting patiently in hope that the best fruit often takes the longest time to
ripen.

In that old University of Glasgow, Adam Smith sowed the seeds and laboured long, laying the foundations of his Wealth of Nations, but seventy years were to pass before his work bore substantial fruit – and still continues today to do so.

In our personal and work lives, we make plans and set goals for ourselves and families – fine at the outset, but days turn into weeks and months and years, and doubt begins to set in that we will ever see these plans and goals come to fruition. Positive thinking goes out the window. This also applies to churches.

Like all small churches, Netherfield has spent many years reaching out to the local community, and it would be easy to despair thinking we are beating our heads against a brick wall as year after year we see no response to our efforts. But how do we know? How can we tell what is happening in the hearts and lives of the people we have contacted? We have worked hard, we have sown the seeds. The rest is up to God. But how easy it would be (and in the past has been) to elbow our way onto His territory and attempt to take over and do the whole job ourselves.

Don't we know that God is working His purpose out....in His own time. It's essential that like the young man in the Warsaw Ghetto, that we hang on to the belief that though at present, we cannot see the end result, the sun WILL shine – IS shining right now, as people listen to the still small voice. Maybe, as in the case of Adam Smith it will take many more years before the
harvest is reaped, but what a day that will be!

Our job right now is to stay focused, continue sowing, praying, and hanging on to our faith and belief, keep our thoughts positive, focused, and don't allow negative thoughts to intrude.

“One faith one hope one Lord” - the Gaithers vocal band is today's music. Click on the picture to listen.