Carol Purves

We are obsessed with time. Limited time to do what we want? We will never get through all our tasks. Time going slow when we are waiting for something good or bad to happen. How many sleeps do children have before the next exciting event? Our days are time obsessed. We check the time a hundred times a day; foolish really because it won’t go any faster or slower. Time has been controlled by God since ‘time again.’

Our new year, 2022, is marked by resolutions, some broken already. What will this year bring? How many shopping days until next Christmas? Perish the thought. We re told in Psalm 31 that our times are in God’s hands; thank goodness for that.

Can we imagine a time when time will be no more? There will be no time, just eternity. God was in past time, He is in present time and He will be in future time, whatever that will look like.

This year, whenever I have wished someone a happy 2022 they reply ‘I hope it will be better than last year.’ They have a point. We have been restricted, bereaved and battered. Many of the things which have made life worthwhile have been snatched from us. We can no longer trust the news or what we are told. New hardships are faced daily. No wonder people hope that this new year will herald a better year.

While I have only suffered to a moderate degree, I still ask myself, what can I reply on? The answer is my God. He is my Rock. He doesn’t fluctuate from day to day. He doesn’t tell lies. He doesn’t let me down. He has been utterly reliable the whole of my life. Although I share this good news with my friends, they often don’t believe me. I do so wish they did.

My prayer for 2022 is that all my friends and acquaintances may believe in the power of God. If every Christian in the world wished this for their friends and acquaintances, 2022 would indeed be a better world.

Sometimes a smile is all that is needed, words are unnecessary. If we give someone a smile it can be passed on and then multiplied. A smile is a wonderful gift to be shared.

But now our smiles have been replaced by a mask. What a loss1 I know our eyes are supposed to light up when we smile but I’m not convinced. What can I do to replace it? I could be more careful with my words and make sure they are positive, affirming and kind. There are more kind and considerate actions I could do. I could try harder to appreciate where my friends are concerning this pandemic. Everyone is suffering in some way and there are some very small words and action s I could say and do. Together we come out of this situation and make 2022 a better place and world.

Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown’ and he replied ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God . That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’ Minnie Louise Haskins

I give this message to all my readers for 2022. There is no better advice. May God bless you.

In 1917 my father was a 17 year old cadet in the navy. During that year he became a pall-bearer for many of his comrades who had died in the Spanish flu pandemic. Many thousands died. A forgotten era but I am reminded of it as we are in the midst of another pandemic.

I believe it was September 1957, when I was a very new student at college, we suffered another pandemic, known, I think, as the Asian Pandemic. It wasn’t so widely remembered, though it was by me.

Here we are approaching 2022 and in the middle of another pandemic. Covid 19. As we sigh and groan about the coming year what can we learn? We learn that there has always been troubles, we are in troubles now and there will always be troubles. BUT God doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today and for ever, especially in 2022.

I know that today this phrase refers to spreading the corona virus but suppose for a moment it referred to something else. Just suppose it referred to the spread of the gospel. Imagine the Good News invading the whole world as fast as the corona virus is at the present time. Imagine there being worshipping Christians all over the continent of Africa. Can you visualise the Americas knowing all about Christ and His sacrifice. Europe and the Far East would all join in with the praise. Think what it would be like for everyone to know the true meaning of Christmas.

Sadly this is not going to happen, although we can all do our part. But a time is coming when the next world will be filled with the knowledge of God. There will be no need to evangelise because all will know. What riches await us! Meanwhile we will journey on down here and wait and prayer.

This is the day that makes dying worth living for.

I wish that this was the first Christmas that I heard the story of Jesus’s birth. I would like to receiving the story of the visit of the shepherds and the wise men as a new story. Then maybe I would be filled with the wonder and amazement that the story deserves.

It is thrilling and wonderful to read about the angel visiting Mary and telling her that she is to be the mother of the Messiah. I want to feel the anguish of Joseph; what should he do about Mary, this young maiden who he loves. He faces heartbreak. So stunning to read about the angels visiting the shepherds up on the hills, experiencing what up to when was an ordinary day. There is the story of the long dangerous journey of the wise men, following the star and getting lost in Herod’s palace before worshipping at the manger.

Then I realise that if I had never heard this story before , I would have missed out on many meaningful Christmases. Although I know how the story unfolds, it is still wonderful and miraculous. I can still be overwhelming by the significance of the message as I too worship at the manger.

Joseph, the surrogate father of Jesus has been in my mind a great deal this year. I find different years bring up different emphasises. Then I received an e-card. I’m not a lover of these but this one brought tears to my eyes. With the background of the carol ‘Little Donkey’, it depicted the journey to Bethlehem. I expect the couple were travelling alone as Mary’s out-of-wedlock condition would mean they were ostracised. One scene showed the couple huddled by a small fire alone way out in the desert.

As part of my Advent reading this year I’m reading of Joseph’s dilemma. A relatively old man he looked forward to love and a future with the young Mary. Then he discovered a supposed infidelity. An angel tried to explain and allay his fears. I imagine the subsequent visits of the shepherds and wise men would help to prove the angel’s words. What a tremendous responsibility he was given!

Do we continue to pray when there is no possibility of our prayers being answered. Did Elizabeth and Zechariah continue to pray when, because of their age, there was no chance of her ever having a baby. Then the miracle happened, John was born to Elizabeth. In modern jargon their prayers could be ‘clocked as a success.’

What about our prayers which we prayed so long ago that we have forgotten about them? Do we even remember what they were? Our God is outside time. The past, present and future are all the same to Him. We live moment by moment, not in the thoughts of eternity. Should we even continue when all hope is gone? Is there a time when we need to let go?

I have no idea what the answer is to the questions I’ve posed. I think the only thing we can do is pray to the God of answers and share them with him.