Meditation

I have been thinking, in the quiet time between sleeping & waking before I get up in the morning, about what I have been asked to speak on by the Meeting: spirituality. What immediately came to mind was Philipians 2:12 Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear & trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will & to work for His good pleasure.

So this is what I am meditating on at present. I stand on the bedrock of mainstream Christain belief. For me there is no question about God the father, his son Jesus Christ, & the comforter he promised to send. Religion is about how one comes into a personal relationship with God. This is a pivotal thought for me. Christain parents hope & pray & work towards their children's salvation but the bottom line is that we can't save them. We can give them all the information, all the training. all the education & they may still choose to reject Christ because each of us stands alone, stands personally, before the creator of the universe & each of us must give account for their relationship (or lack thereof) before God himself. We do not get to hide behind our parents, or our denomination, or our upbringing, or our pastor so this verse seems to me to be just plain old common sense but it takes courage to strip away the trappings of religion & stand exposed before God; it is an aweful (full of awe) thing indeed to fall into the hands of the Living God! But there is no safer place to be either.

There aren't many things I like about getting older. The mind's going & the body's disintergrating but there are compensations. I can look back over my life & see so very clearly the path God ordained for me & the clear markings of His thumbprints painstakingly fashioning me into a tool for His glory. I love to gather with other believers & praise the Lord God. I love better to gather with other believers in the gathered silence & listen to what God would say to me. By this I know how very much I am loved by God himself, that he would deign to *walk in the cool of the evening* & converse with me. Adam & Eve must have been devasted when they realised what that fruit had cost them!