As I write this letter, we’ve just had the hottest April day on record for over 40 years!!!! I love the sun, obviously it brings with it a warmth but it also brings a sense of inner warmth – one that is tangible/visible in other people.
To be honest any opportunity to don the shorts and I’ll take it, I love wearing shorts and T-Shirts, they give me a sense of relaxation and freedom. So it was with much excitement that the legs came out on Saturday! I wasn’t on my own… As I popped in to the local supermarket, I joined the queue to pay for my goods and there standing next to me was another gentleman also in his shorts! I tentatively spoke to him and said, ‘Good to see I’m not the only one wearing shorts!’ to which he replied ‘The suns out.. its got to be done’ and we then had a brief conversation.
Why am I sharing this with you? Well I wouldn’t have sparked up this conversation with a complete stranger if I wasn’t wearing shorts and I was only wearing shorts because the sun was out and it gave me the feel good factor. In short (excuse the pun!) the sun made me feel better on the inside and I had to share that with someone!
Now that’s something that has to explored a little deeper… The sun basically lifted my spirits, gave me a deep sense of inner joy and because of that enabled me to share that joy with a complete stranger who responded accordingly. Theres a bit of a missional link there???
I’m sure you’ll agree people are more sociable in the better weather, BBQ’s, family gatherings etc., walk through Otterspool on a summers day and you’ll find hundreds of people socialising and enjoying themselves and for that brief moment the world seems a better place.
As Christians, this should be our daily experience (not one based on the weather) in essence we need to look to the SON on a daily basis. In doing that we set our eyes on the saviour, through whom we are forgiven, accepted, restored and transformed. As believers in Christ we are his resurrection people, to use the great apostle Pauls words in 2 Corinthians 3:18 ‘There is nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him’.
Now that’s the feeling that we should all be experiencing if we have that relationship with the Lord. It’s a feeling that you can’t keep to yourself, rather you feel compelled to share it with others – even complete strangers!! Its not something that only happens a couple of weeks of the year when the sun is shining, rather it happens as the SON shines in us on a daily basis!! I wonder do you know that joy? That deep sense of satisfaction and completeness that comes from a relationship with God?
Maybe this summer is the time to allow God to give you the ‘feel good factor’ that you might shine for him – who knows it might lead to a few impromptu conversations that you won’t have to wear shorts for!!!