Feelings are great.

I want to be a person who feels. When we stop feeling, we stop caring. And when we stop caring, it’s called depression.

I wish my feelings were only of the positive, uplifting variety. Joy, wonder, peace, inspiration, satisfaction, determination, insightfulness, creativity, contentment: these are the feelings I like. They are my favourite feelings. They are always welcome.

Of course there are the other feelings too. Anxiety, guilt, frustration, confusion, inferiority, jealousy, weariness, temptation (let’s not even go there…) These pesky feelings are less welcome. In fact I’d quite like it if they never showed up at all. But they do.

The trouble with feelings is that they can be such fickle little things. They can be so elusive. Just when you think you know how you’re going to feel, your feelings decide to change – without even consulting you. And it’s no use wanting to feel a certain way. No matter how much I want to feel happy, I can’t make it happen. Have you ever gone to bed feeling happy, and woke up feeling sad? How does that happen? Those fickle feelings.

Feelings are always going to be hanging around. We need them, and more importantly, we need to learn from them. They can be great teachers if we take the time to understand them. I have found a few things helpful in learning to deal with the highs and lows of feelings:

If you listen to the coffee-shop conversations, the political debates, the social-media arguments, and the news headlines, you can hear a kind of hopelessness in our world. People have lost their confidence in tomorrow. They have lost the sense that our world could somehow get better.  People are angry. But anger is usually just fear in disguise. 

Hal David and Burt Bacharach wrote “what the world needs now is love sweet love.” It’s a classic tune and I won’t argue with the sentiment. But I think what the world needs right now is hope – real hope.  

And real hope comes from the source of true hope.

Romans 15 v 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Everyone is full of something. But imagine trusting God so fully, that the result is a life filled with hope. And not only filled, but so filled with hope that it overflows in your life. 

That kind of overflow can have a profound impact on the lives of those around us. Instead of joining in the never-ending negative conversations, why not seek to be a channel of hope to others? Why not start today?

I’ve just confirmed that I will be playing at CreationFest in Cornwall on Sunday Aug 7th at 1pm. Hope to see you there!

More details at www.creationfest.org.uk

We are invited to live in a bigger story.

But to live in that bigger story we must become bigger people. 

The smaller story is always easier: Take the path of least resistance. Do what you’ve always done. Stick with what you know. Medicate the pain. Bury your head in the sand. Copy someone else. Live for little pleasures. Make it about you.

The bigger story is always more challenging: Attempt something uncomfortable. Try something new. Believe things can change. Address the pain. Find a solution. Create something beautiful. Live for a grander purpose. Make it about others. 

Ultimately it’s the choice to live in a bigger story that will make you a bigger person. You’ll find yourself expanding deeper, wider, higher, and further than you ever thought you could. 

What you were given in this life, is up to God. What you do with what you were given, is up to you. Locked up inside you is a treasure chest of talent, energy, gifting, and perspective that this beautiful broken world desperately needs. You only need to be brave enough to step forward and let it out.  The small story or the big story. Which will you choose?

“If only I had…”

Fill in the blank for yourself.

If only I had… tried harder, said less, said something, read more books, made more friends, been bolder, prayed regularly…

The ‘if only I had’ list is long and growing in most people’s lives. Looking back has value, especially in learning from our mistakes. But if we stay stuck, always looking back will only cripple us in the future. 

A better way of living is to learn from yesterday and say “If only I will…”

When you replace ‘if only I had’ with ‘if only I will’, you become empowered to do something about tomorrow. You can learn from yesterday whilst shaking off it’s guilt and recriminations. 

If only I will… speak up, read more, take a chance, love again, ask God…

‘If only I will’ helps you to turn things around. 

‘If only I will’ unlocks a world of new options. 

‘If only I will’ opens a door called grace. 

Be forgiven. Go and sin no more. Go on, go. 

You can worry, fret, wonder, imagine, and try to figure out what comes next. Or you can rest in the knowledge that God knows what comes next. He’ll let you know when you need to know.

You can strive, strain, push, pull, and try to force something into being. Or you can rest in the power of the Holy Spirit. He can do what you can never do.

You can redouble your effort, try to be better, clean yourself up, and show God what a good person you are. Or you can rest in the finished work of Christ. He’s done it all. 

Insight without worry.

Faith without strain.

Righteousness without effort.

You’ll do your best work, be your most creative, help more people, love more deeply, find cool solutions, live more freely, give more generously, and walk a straighter path, when you do so from a place of true rest. 

Rest. God’s got you.