Our pond was here when we bought the house in 1980.
It has undergone many a change from being a magnet for children plaguing the frog spawn and tadpoles to a wildlife area somewhat neglected to a tidied up well planted water lily pond.
Now it boasts a toy boat and a string of yellow plastic ducks given as Christmas presents. The boat has a tendency to occasionally capsize and the ducks to tip on their sides in the wind but they can be put right.
Our lives undergo many a change over the years – not just physically but mentally and spiritually. Sometimes like the boat and ducks we get tipped over or capsize leaving ourselves not as we should be and certainly not as God intended us to be. This may be due to the circumstances we find ourselves in and the choices we make.
If, like the ducks and toy boat, we are tipped up, capsized – in a mess - we may well need the help of others to right ourselves. And if we see someone in a mess, capsized by life we need to help them to right themselves.
There are many facets to the ministry of Jesus but one of his emphases was on compassion – compassion for anyone who needed it. In his temptations he turned away from the chance of power and control and moved into a caring ministry. He said “Love one another - As I have loved you so you must love one another”.
In a modern world where there are so many lives
in a mess for many a reason we cannot turn away.
All tipped up capsized lives need that close up care and attention to right them that through God’s help we can offer.