Thought for the week

EVEN if you are not an avid follower of the current Rugby World Cup, it is likely that your attention will have been drawn to news of a sequence of extreme natural events blighting Japan in recent days.

The serene and meticulously planned spectacle has been threatened by typhoons raging, earthquakes destroying and even volcanoes erupting, to the extent that some matches had to be cancelled altogether. These are common enough events in the yearly cycle for Japan, and serve as a metaphor for life that can play out in very similar ways. The perfect life we envisage and work hard to establish can so easily and cruelly be blown off course by events beyond our control – due to failing health, unemployment or a difficult relationship perhaps.

There are also troubles we invite upon ourselves by the things we do have control over – our actions and reactions, the choices we make, the opinions we form and how we communicate them. The apostle Paul wrote about this in a letter to young Timothy, of those who have an ‘unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that can easily blow up resulting in envy, strife, malicious talk and constant friction between people’. As rugby nations battle it out for ultimate cup success, we too can be winners in life by finding ‘true godliness with contentment’ which brings its own lasting reward. Godliness is found in a God-centred life; contentment is finding joy in what God has given you – whether little or much, an inner confidence that remains constant whatever life throws at you. Gareth Williams