On Reflection

From the manse window

ONE of my favourite trips is by Northern Isles Ferry from Scrabster to Orkney.

For almost an hour the boat hugs the coastline of Hoy, with the massive cliffs of Rackwick Head and the Old Man of Hoy towering almost within reach, before we turn into the welcoming, calmer waters of Hoy Sound and the sheltered harbour of Stromness.

On a sunny day, the brown sandstone stands out in so much detail on the rock face.

You can spot gulls nesting precariously on narrow ledges and pretty clumps of sea pinks growing in tiny cracks.

As this area of Scotland experiences the full force of prevailing westerlies, blowing straight across the Atlantic with nothing to slow them down, there is evidence of much weathering on the rock face.

The cliffs face daily pounding by powerful waves, wind and rain, and in winter, frost and ice enlarge the cracks.

What erodes our lives, I wonder? What can eat away at it, causing it to crumble and collapse?

Many things, sadly. Broken relationships, disappointments, anger and pain.

Perhaps self-pity is one of the most powerful eroding influences of all.

Pity is, of course, a good emotion, leading us to show compassion and care to others.

But when pity turns inwards it can become destructive.

“Self-pity is our worst enemy,” Helen Keller is quoted as saying.

The self-pitying person craves sympathy and often hangs on to the past, constantly fretting and wallowing.

We see much evidence of this in the characters of well-known Bible stories.

Moses suffered from it as he wrestled with the people of Israel.

They were constantly looking back and remembering their harsh enslavement in Egypt with almost fond longing.

Elijah, too, the fiery prophet, quickly forgot an awesome display of God’s power on Mount Carmel and, in fear and loneliness, hid in a cave and wished he could just die.

The Bible characters of old were just like us.

The apostle Paul, writing to his protégé Timothy, advised that “Godliness with contentment is great gain”.

This position of contentment, however, hadn’t come easily to Paul.

Perhaps we haven’t known quite the extremes that Paul did, but storms and dark periods will touch all our lives, too.

These can challenge everything we believe.

They have the potential to erode our trust and to cause us to become self-pitying.

The secret is to learn that God is for us all the days of our lives.

By staying close to Christ and trusting all things to him, we will be given the strength like Paul to handle anything that comes our way. ■

Next week: Rev. Ian W.F. Hamilton talks about his home city.