20 April – Linda Clist, St Mary Magdalen, Sheet

Bad News, Good News

Good news seems to be in short supply at the moment, doesn’t it? There’s the horror of Ukraine, rising prices threatening to tip many into poverty, and the stubbornly high number of Covid cases. We probably have our own personal challenges to deal with as well.

One of the by-products of all this bad news, though, is that I think it gives us some perspective. If life seems stable comfortable, it’s easy to take the good things we have for granted. What’s more, it’s easy to get aggrieved when quite small things go wrong. Perhaps one of our favourite items is missing from the supermarket shelf this week. Perhaps there’s one of those ‘Road Closed’ signs that send us off on a long detour. Perhaps a delivery takes two days to arrive, rather than one.

When we have real, significant issues to think about, small irritations are shown up as just that: small things that don’t justify real upset. At the same time, we can look again at the advantages we have: living in a beautiful area of the country in peacetime; free access to healthcare; and (I hope) family and friends we treasure.

It’s become quite fashionable to boost our well-being by thinking of three things we can be thankful for each day. They can be quite small things, like a dry walk into town, or bigger things, like seeing an old friend or recovering from an illness. It’s actually something that all believers know well. Counting our blessings is an age-old habit that encourages thankfulness and thankfulness definitely leads to greater life satisfaction.

We are praying for the people of Ukraine, for those who struggle financially and for those suffering from Covid. At the same time, we remember to keep the little problems of our own lives in perspective and to thank God for all the blessings we enjoy.