Life is a Training Ground for Souls

In the fairy tales we are told that the prince and princess “got married and lived happily ever after”. Judging by the current divorce rate that is not always the case to-day. Nevertheless, it is God’s plan for a man and woman, who love each other, to get married. He wants us to have a very special friend to share our life with, and that is also the way He populates the world.  However, people need to be reasonably sure that they are compatible before they marry. To have had a short “courtship” Just based 
on attraction and romantic feelings is risky. Real love needs to be given a chance to grow and deepen as people get to know each other reasonably well before they marry, and even then they should be encouraged to take those vows: “For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health until death us do part.” Unfortunately, not everybody takes those vows and often those who take them lack the commitment to follow them through and therefore never know the “oneness” that comes from that deep and abiding love and devotion that real commitment earns. When Audrey and I got married and acquired a small grazing property of our own, we soon found that the vows we took on our wedding day were also applicable to running a sheep grazing property. In the first photo you will see that we had a good season with lovely grass for our sheep (“for richer”). In the second photo we were in the middle of a drought that lasted for years and even the sheep were depressed (“for poorer”). In the third photo (below), I cut scrub for them so they could eat the
leaves but that wasn’t enough to keep them healthy (“in sickness”). Then we bought grain and fed them daily by pouring it out on the hard bare ground to keep them “in health” as you see in the last photo. That was difficult as we had very little money to start with so that could have been the end of our grazing enterprise if it wasn’t for determination to succeed and a strong faith in God, (I believe that a lot of marriages fail due to a lack of that 
faith in God and the commitment and determination to succeed.)  Audrey and I were “Good Shepherds” to our sheep, they learned to recognise our voices and come when called, many of them became real pets and we grew to recognise them as individuals and love them. Of course there were those who remained “Hoity Toity” and kept us at a distance, but their pride was not to their advantage in the long run. One of our Prime Ministers (Malcom Frazer), said that “life wasn’t meant to be easy”. Actually that is all that I remember him saying, but I believe he was right in saying that. When we are young we often feel that the world is our Oyster and all we have to do is get a good job, marry someone nice, get a good home, travel the world and enjoy life. Which is the, “and they lived happily ever after” syndrome. Well I have news for anyone thinking that way: Happiness is certainly what we should aim for but it doesn’t come in that way. I have met many people who have all that we just mentioned but somehow they don’t have Happiness.  We are Spiritual beings with the prospect of eternal life, Jesus likens us to sheep and He wants to be our Good Shepherd, so just as Audrey and I looked after our sheep through thick and thin, He wants to do that for us. We therefore, need to start by accepting Jesus love and forgiveness as the foundation of our life and let Him guide us as we build our lives on that foundation of His eternal love.  The media tell us that our world is full of pitfalls but the Bible told us that, long before the media was thought of. However, the media offers no lasting solutions whilst God says “I will be with you in trouble, I will deliver you and honour you”. That is if we are prepared to let Him be our Shepherd and don’t stand off like those proud “hoity toity” sheep I mentioned above. Accepting God’s forgiveness and Lordship is where true happiness commences and just as our sheep were    fed by us, so we need to feed on God’s word, particularly the New Testament. God understands us. He has been shepherd to millions of people like you and me and every one of those millions have had the same basic needs as we have, so all we have to do is co-operate with God’s instructions and everything else will fall into place. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths”. (Proverbs chapter 3 verse 6). It is an interesting concept, and it works.  Think about it, if you haven’t already done so.  Best wishes, Tom.