Not just a fatty!

Why do so many shops have their maternity section upstairs? Do they not understand that the reason I'm getting fatter isn't cos I need more exercise - it's because I'm carrying another person with me wherever I go. Walking around town shopping is tiring enough as it is - don't make me climb stairs too!!!

In me?

So there's this little person inside me just hanging out, not doing anything for itself. It takes its nutrients from me, relies on me to remove its waste, steals my oxygen and uses up my energy.

It got me thinking about a phrase the Bible uses to describe those of us who have put our trust in Jesus. We are described as being 'In Christ'. I can't help thinking that being In Christ is supposed to be a bit like my baby. The Bible clearly teaches us to rely on God's grace instead of self effort. We should look to Christ to nourish us, supply all our needs and to remove our bad stuff too. I think particularly in our Western culture of self sufficiency we find this difficult.

Just relax and enjoy being 'In Christ' and embrace the rest that God wants to give you.

Pregnant with expectation

So apparently I'm pregnant! It's so weird. I mean I have had plenty of symptoms but it still doesn't feel quite real. After having my first scan and seeing it really is a baby and not just gas, I know for sure now that it really is a certainty that I'm gonna give birth one day. And yet it still feels so distant and surreal.

That got me thinking about Jesus' promise to return. I don't doubt all the Bible tells us about the second coming and yet I don't live with a sense of expectancy - it seems so distant. I used to feel bad about that and feel like I should have a stronger feeling of certainty. But I'm now reminded how unreliable feelings are.

Though I know this baby is coming one day, I do not have strong feelings of certainty - only faith in what I have been told and the signs I have seen.

In the same way, I don't have strong feelings of expectation about Jesus second coming and yet I know that I can have faith that one day Jesus will stand on the earth again, and when He does he will put the world right once and for all, just as the Bible promises us.