Angular Myrtle

Talking to some schoolchildren last week, one of them told me the ‘Lady who owns Germany is called Angular Myrtle!” I was pretty impressed because, spelling apart, I’m not so sure many of the adults I meet every day would get as near as that. The problem was that I wanted to praise the child for knowing the answer but felt an overwhelming desire to correct them too!

This is a problem we all encounter on pretty much a daily basis, the “Yes, but . . “ moments that we have where we want to affirm and reward and yet feel the need to offer correction too. When I was a schoolchild we had a teacher (nicknamed ‘Moonbeam’ because of his bald head) who boasted that he never awarded an ‘A’ because there was always a ‘but’ or an ‘and’ attached to every essay. No matter how hard we tried to please the man, he never wavered and would always point out how much further we could have gone.

The problem is that many of the people I meet seem to have the same idea when it comes to God. That no matter how much we change and regardless of the effort we put into our lives, He’s never happy with us. This, I am glad to be able to report, is not the truth.

I often hear children say, “Harold be thy name,” when saying the Lord’s Prayer. I guess this means we’re on first name terms with God! So let me tell you what Harold wants from you and wants to give you.

Harold has your pictures on His ‘fridge. He cheers when we get it right and celebrates every minor triumph that we have. He weeps over our tragedies and is, if we but reach out to touch Him, but a fingertip away. Yes, God takes pleasure in us and wants, like every good parent, the very best for us. But He wants relationship, not religion – for religion only tells you that you are wrong regardless of how far you’ve come. Religion tells you to give more, be more and then tells you that you are still wrong. This isn’t Christianity, for Christianity is about relationship with God.

So why not stop for a moment and thank God for your friends, family, successes and the things you are proud of – because God loves to celebrate with you. Now think of the things that trouble you - the problems, the people who are struggling and the things that need to change. Give them to God, because He is with you as you face them and will, if you ask, give you the strength, and the means, to overcome them and be blessed and a blessing to others.

In the Bible God says that He will be with us, by our side, to the very end – not a hollow promise, so why not give Him a try and find out how much Harold loves you today?

Pax