For people of a certain age brought up in a particular world, to sit by an open log fire is to be content. A sense of security and of warmth leads to relaxation that may be entirely unjustified. While I sat beside the fire in the photograph, happily and sleepily reading a book (in hard back not digitally) at the beginning of our recent holiday, one of my online accounts was being hacked and since then an electronic me has tried, unsuccessfully, to log into my business files from, seemingly, twenty-two different countries.
In our twenty first century world, cyber security is as important as locking the front door for many of us. I am fortunate to be well supported and so far, so good, no harm has been done apart from having to spend some precious time making sure all the defences around my e-persona are intact.
According to the three synoptic gospel writers, Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus was asked why his disciples did not follow some of the rules about fasting. He replied that there was no need to do that because they had him with them; they could not prepare further for what was already reality.
In his hymn, ‘Lord of Creation to you be all Praise,’ Jack Winslow refers to the God of power, of wisdom and of bounty which concludes with a commitment to ‘give my all’ to ‘the Lord of all being.’
We strive for power, wisdom, and wealth. People will tell us how to get there, what rules to follow, what schemes and tactics to adopt. Others will impersonate us to try to inveigle our world but, in the end, we are what we are, or rather, we are what God has made us, but we can never be more than we are, whether by impersonation or by scheming unless we accept the presence of God in our personal space now. Do that and all sorts of things may happen but above all warmth and security will take on a completely different form and our persona will be better protected than it has ever been before.
A prayer
God you are power, wisdom and bounty. Help me to be safe from the attacks of the world and the temptation look elsewhere for you when you are with me now. For that presence and for my safety I give you my thanks for the sake of Jesus who made it impregnable for when he died on the cross for my sake. Amen.