Commitments and dreams…….

I left you two days ago with an emotional cliffhanger – God showing Moses the land he would never enter and instructing him how to pass on the baton to Joshua. That sentimental farewell appears to have been a little premature as we read on. Yes, it is going to happen, but maybe not just yet. We now know the ending, but have some more ground to cover first.

So in chapters 28 and 29, God reminds Moses of the specific details of each of the offerings to be made to the Lord – the daily offerings (at morning and twilight); the Sabbath offering; the monthly offering (on the first day of each month at each new moon). Then He moves on to summarise the offerings to be made at the religious festivals – the Passover; the Festival of Weeks; the Festival of Trumpets; the Day of Atonement; the Feast of Tabernacles.

Hold a sacred assembly. Do no regular work. Celebrate a festival. Offer animals without defect. An awful lot of lambs. In addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. This will be an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

Just to be clear. There really is no room for confusion here.

Chapter 30 is all about vows made to the Lord by women – specifically wives and daughters. If a daughter makes a vow to the Lord and her father knows about it and says nothing, then the vow will stand. If her father forbids her, then the Lord will release her from her pledge. Similarly for a wife. If a widowed or divorced woman makes a vow, however, her vow is binding.

Because sometimes we are not in a position to commit to something that we would wish to commit to. Which leads me on to an amusing story that is almost relevant – and Andy needs to tell for himself –

Wow this is a first – this blog is co-authored today. Anyway back to the story. A few years back I went on a church away day to Alnmouth Friary. It was a silent retreat for 8 hours – to which most of my family and friends at the time thought there was no chance of me being able to achieve. It was amazing. The quiet. The scenery. The stillness. The time for reflection. The time for hearing God. Anyway towards the end of the day, one of the brothers came to give a short homily to guide our final hour or so of reflection. Enjoying the peace and quiet, I was beginning to think that the life of a Franciscan Friar was for me. The Brother then told a story. “Once a man with three children came to me and said ‘Father, I think I am being called to the life of Franciscan brother’. I turned to him and said ‘God has given you a calling already to be the best dad you can be to your three children. Whatever God is calling you to in the future, today he is calling you to be there for them'”. It pulled me up short. Suddenly the peace and the quiet was shattered. I was not being called to this. I was being called to be the best dad I could be. A break at the friary was fine, but the main job was back at home bringing up three children. Little did I know that a couple of years later that calling would grow from three to five! Now back to Helen! Andy

I’d love to go to Africa again and do some hands on work for a season. I’d love to move to a remote island and write a novel. I’d love to work full time in my role at Asda and have time for everything else. I’d love to open a retreat centre with Twanna and do yoga and creativity and empower women.

But I have a life and commitments. This is what I have been called to at the moment. Maybe all of that will come in the future. But for now, I am here, doing what I do, loving who I love, trying to be the best I can be.

We have to learn to work with our commitments, trying to live at peace with our dreams. We have to learn to creatively make the best use of our time to accommodate some of our yearnings.

That way lies contentment.