Fog

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15, NIV)

A foggy start to the day. An ethereal mist hangs around the trees, making ghostlike shapes out of the trees and undergrowth. A plume of steam bursts from a chimney, quickly rising before starting to disperse in the air flow from the West, flowing in a cloud to join the general mistiness pervading the atmosphere. A warmer, moisture-bearing flow of air from the West collides with the ground level colder air, the paths and tracks, glens and greens still containing the residue of the post-Christmas snow and ice. A familiar scenario in a Scottish January.
Into our sinful and selfish world, riven with conflict and Covid, flows the grace and love of God. A warmer flow of hope and kindness, salvation and forgiveness, colliding with the coldness of our increasingly secular culture, bringing a ray of light into the fog of despair and depression afflicting so many.
Folks, there won’t be “a warmer flow of hope” unless we share it. Instead it will stay locked away in the cavities of our minds and souls, unable to flow into the spiritual darkness, unable to disperse the fog that blinds the eyes around us.
Lord, I pray for Your presence to burst into the fog in this culture, empowering Your pilgrims to share their stories with their friends, families, loved ones, communities. Bring Your light to all, I pray. Amen.