Thought for the day – Tuesday 31st March 2020
Reading: Matthew 1: 18 – 24
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
God had to get humans involved for his son to be truly human as well as divine, however, God the Father has Jesus grow up in a family. This sounds so obvious but it should make us consider how important our relationships in our family are. I suspect I’m not the only one who has been aware from an early age that not everyone in my family is the best of friends. It’s often said that we can choose our friends but we are born with a family. A close, nurturing family is a great thing and huge blessing, something which God’s church family encourages in baptism and hopefully exemplifies in our care and kindness towards each other.
Today consider your family and give thanks for them all, even the ones you may have problems with. If there are members of your family you are having problems with , perhaps today is the day to take the situation to the Father and ask him to enter into the situation. Perhaps you may need to forgive; perhaps you need to ask forgiveness yourself.
Take time and consider and pray. It is a great blessing to come to Easter in good heart with your family.Prayer: For today take time to be silent and think slowly of members of your family and ask God’s blessing on each one of them, praying for any needs you may know of and asking for a stronger relationship in the future