11/01/2026
Whilst I was waiting for the car to be serviced after the extended journey from home to Stafford on the snowy roads, I started wondering about whether my life itself needed servicing.
As New Year evolves, there is an opportunity to think about our lives. Can we place them back into greater service to others if they have become self absorbed or can the parts of our lives which are worn out or need attention be thoroughly serviced?
This may seem like a strange thought perhaps, as we aren't mechanical like a car, yet we do have in common the idea of travel or journeying. Our human bodily journeys in life can become tiring when we become worn down by frustrations or disappointments, sickness, broken relationships, joblessness. For some people their lives are plagued by oppression or blighted by poverty such that life is nothing more than survival.
Where is our journey now? How far have we come in making wise decisions, carrying out fruitful engagements and life changing behaviour or simply travelled the road to love others in our imitation of Jesus Christ.
We often journey in our own strength forgetting the need for servicing and for some of us this may lead to a failed MOT. Whilst an MOT is car specific terminology, in life, could it not stand for Making Otherness Time where Otherness is simply being immersed in reflective prayer, justice filled actions or loving Others in ways which go the extra mile. If Otherness is simply rich filling in a Making Time sandwich, then we can be truly serviced by God in His love, mercy and grace.
Words from Isaiah 42 capture the essence of a people caught in exile and yet strangely point to a modern day need for ongoing human behaviour.
'I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness'
Will our journey in life include spending time with those in greatest need, providing light to those with a blindness of Spirit, offering hope for the prisoners of low expectations and self esteem?
Let's make a new covenant or agreement with God today for regular servicing, choosing to wallow in Otherness, expanding our hearts to love more widely and deeply, making more time to spend with God. Amen. 🙏
