[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during June 2020]
In 1965 when my family moved back to the UK I had to have something that I had not needed before – a raincoat for school. My mother took me to Harlow open-air market where she bought me a suitable one, not the height of 1960s fashion but a sensible garment that should last for the next couple of years.
After my name tape was added the raincoat served me well, protecting me from the rain on my journey to and from school but one day the sun came out and the raincoat was left on the coach. My mother was not well-amused, especially as that coach was not part of the regular fleet of school buses. Six months later the coach was back, and so was my raincoat, thanks to a helpful driver.
Then I moved to a boarding school where I did not need the raincoat. It hung in the cupboard under the stairs, out of sight and largely forgotten. In my subsequent travels what happened to the raincoat? I cannot recall – perhaps it spent its life being pushed aside whilst we were looking for something else.
But I still have that raincoat, and I can still get into it (just). It hangs on a hook by the door, alongside a selection of other coats and jackets, some smarter, some more utilitarian, ready for a rainy day.
How about you? Do you like to think of yourself as offering a valuable service to those around you? Or do you feel that you are in the cupboard stage – not discarded but imaging yourself largely forgotten. What about those years of obscurity, when nobody seemed to care about you? Is being older than those around you getting you down?
You have a special time and place in God’s plan – hang in there!
A final thought. For 55 years that coat has carried my name. Your name can join mine in a place that is better protected and longer-lasting. Jesus told his disciples to “rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10 20). Can you echo the words of Mary Kidder:
Yes, my name’s written there, on the pages white and fair,
In the book of thy Kingdom, yes, my name’s written there.
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
