The Colour of Help

When we are in distress of any kind it is encouraging when we know that help is on its way. From an aggravating health problem to a major sea rescue help comes as a great relief to the person requiring assistance. 

If you were in difficulties in the water how ecstatic you would be to see a bright purpose-made lifebelt thrown to aid you.  What could be more cheering and reassuring than the sight of the bright orange hue of a lifeboat coursing through the rough seas to rescue you? 

How consoling to see the red and white helicopter searching for you, if you were lost on the hillside?  These are colours that you would focus on to keep you comforted and sustained throughout your ordeal. 

But to me the greatest rescue colour imaginable is the brilliant white of the ‘Light of the World’. God comes to save us from an eternity in the horrific depths of hell. The place where we would be languishing and spending forever wishing that we hadn’t refused the lifebelts thrown to us by anxious friends and family, or swimming away when the lifeboat came too close. 

It’s an eternity of drowning in darkness and terror but, thank God, we don’t have to go there.

As well as being the most life-changing rescue of all, God’s saving plan is also the simplest and quickest. God wastes no time considering how to react to our cries.  He answers instantly and we are assured that, as long as we know and love Him, we will never slip back from the grip of our ultimate rescuer.

Luke 19: 10 For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. 

Don’t drown in darkness because you wouldn’t cry out. It’s so very easy to ask God for help.  It’s so life-changing and wonderful to live in His glorious light now and for all eternity.

Sunshine and Seeds

Many times the dandelion is considered nothing more than a bothersome weed that spreads too quickly, sometimes ruining a perfectly groomed lawn. 

Recently I took a photograph of a dandelion and on looking at it very closely was struck by the brightness of the yellow petals even though the sun wasn’t shining on them. It was almost like a little sun itself.  I wondered how I had missed REALLY looking at this heart warming flower for most of my life.

 

When the life of the petals is over the dandelion takes on a beautifully created new look, nothing even like the shape of the former petalled flower. But its purpose is not yet over. The seeds, when scattered by the wind, fall on new ground allowing nature to begin a new cycle of life.

I would like my life to be like that of the dandelion. Shining into someone’s life making it brighter, regardless of how I feel, or how sunless life may seem to me at the time. Shining because I just can't help it.

This is my prayer, Lord, that you would help me to be the sun on someone’s shadow. And, if later in life I find I am a little less able to glow, then my usefulness could be as seeds of help or kindness blowing towards others, taking  root and being remembered in their moments of darkness, bringing new life to hearts and minds.

Thank you, Lord.