I have been reflecting on the following quote for a while: “A canal boat is safe in a canal basin but that’s not what canal boats are built for”.
Aylesbury is blessed in having an accessible canal basin. It was completed in 1815. It runs from Marsworth Junction for 10km to Aylesbury. The canal has 16 locks and drops a total of 95 feet. The project took 20 years to complete, 17 years of negotiations and 3 years to build. How do I know? Well I could have sourced this information from Google or Bing internet search engines. Or I could simply do the right thing and get in the boat and savour the delights of our canal waterways and the local wildlife. And that’s what I did in July. The Diocese of Oxford has in fact got a canal boat called “Beacon+ narrowboat” for its ministry at the Aylesbury Canal Basin, which is also available to parishes. Impressive!
Had I not taken the opportunity to get in a boat to savour the beauty of the canal waterways, I would have missed out on so much of the pleasures living in this part of Buckinghamshire. We can draw parallels with developing mature attitudes in the Lord. Exercise in freedom is essential to growth and development as Christians. Until we go out and experience the freedom in God, we may not have a sense of how wonderful and liberating things can be.
We fail to discover God’s will via a slick formulae for getting to our destination without personal cost or maybe remaining in the canal basin. Put simply, there are no short cuts to the will of God. When we take the trouble to explore and secure our connection with God, we won’t have any difficulty in understanding His guidance in our lives. And, yes, He does guides even in the face of struggles. Sometimes connections are restricted by violations and wrong attitudes which stems the flow of God’s guidance for bringing us the light and illumination we need. But, sometimes, we are just a prayer away from accessing the Peace of God, which we sometimes need to turn to, for that hand of assurance on our shoulder or a voice to say, “It’s OK, I’ve got your back!”
The big word in Christian circles is service, but the big word in God’s circle is character. We concentrate on service, whilst God concentrates on character. If we spend more time in concentrating where God concentrates – on character, then we would never have any problems in relation to our service. We should not concern ourselves too much about where God wants us to be. When we are what He wants to be, He will put us in the place where He wants us to be. This is in order to be flourishing persons who know what it means to be in the right space at the right time, never having to apologise for a statement made or withdrawing a single remark. Did ever such a person exist?
Yes, his name was Jesus Christ.
With every blessings
Reverend Rickey Simpson-Gray
Team Vicar for the Parish of the Claydons