No church for us today, Lord, but that doesn’t mean you’re forgotten. I don’t want to sound ungrateful but I’m actually pleased to not be going since that reduces the chance of seeing Claire and William to zero. I’m afraid they are enough to take the shine off any Christmas, even a chaotic one like ours. Of course they were on the phone for at least an hour yesterday, tearing strips off Andrew for being so thoughtless as to host a Christmas where strangers were invited, for allowing his wife (little old me!) to serve an unconventional meal (for Pete’s sake it wasn’t that unconventional, and this is New Zealand after all where plenty of people don’t do the traditional hot meal thing anyway but go to the beach and have a barbecue), for his lack of parenting skills by letting our children overeat, talk back and express their own opinions (I thought they were great yesterday!) and for even having been friends with Cameron, thus introducing him to Ashley, thus encouraging a relationship that they would never, in a zillion years, approve of.
It was interesting to hear Andrew rebut this tirade and I will be the first to admit that he did a sterling job of defending our decision to invite those in need to be with us (quoting some lovely Scripture), defending the Christmas meal (and reminding them they could be living somewhere in the world where such a dinner would only be a dream), praising the children for how well they managed, and suggesting we all give Cameron and Ashley a bit of breathing space to see how things develop rather than making snap judgements.
I was pleased to hear him say all of these things and that he is prepared himself to give Cameron and Ashley some space. I was a little fearful he would be vehemently opposed to the relationship given Cameron’s chequered past – but I think we all see the change in him brought about by a growing relationship with you (and Ashley) so I think the least we can all do is simply pray that you would have your hand on them and that you would draw them both closer to you as they both draw closer to each other.
I do wonder, though, Lord, why life has to be quite so chaotic. It just feels to me as though everything is topsy-turvy for so many people we know that it’s quite overwhelming. I pray for each and every one of our friends and family (okay, even Ma and Pa Copeland) and pray you would work in each of our lives and provide our needs, and that you would make sense of each of the confusing circumstances that some have found themselves in. I pray in your holy name…Amen