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The Other Half The Other Half
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I have just returned from shopping. As usual, the bottle of squash which I wanted to buy was at the very back of the top shelf - amazing how often that happens! I looked around for the very useful step/stool which I had used in the past but that was not in sight so I asked an assistant to help me. (He was over 6ft tall so everything was within his reach. Maybe that’s a new criterion for employment!) Anyway, I enquired after the ‘useful stool’ and was told that it had been removed as customers were not allowed to use it in case they fell and sued the company. What on earth is happening to our society? It seems to me that everything we do has to be so safe, so protected and so controlled that there is little room left for manoeuvrability or individuality. I know that there is a need to provide adequate facilities and protection but it does seem to be out of control. I’m sure that we (the people) have contributed to the compensation mentality by leaping to the courts at the smallest opportunity and I know from TV adverts that a whole new industry has evolved round these small claim cases. I also know that to organise anything produces huge complications as one has to consider every possible scenario which could result in a prosecution and insure against it. Of course there are genuine cases for recompense, and, sadly, more and more needs to anticipate human fallability but I am not talking about those. I am thinking about the ever increasing “‘elf and safety” concerns - the small everyday invasions into lifestyles. I remember a childhood (that’s a phrase which shows I’m getting old!) when I was often falling off my bike or out of trees. Playgrounds had parallel bars to hang from or swing on - the ground was hard but bruises healed. I remember walking along high walls to reach a lighthouse - with a sheer drop on one side down to the rocks and sea. You had to be careful but there was an element of risk, a frisson of danger which made one’s heart beat faster and, at the end, a feeling of achievement. God could have made life easy for us by protecting us
from ourselves! He could have made all our decisions for us, taken all
the dangers away and let us exist in an unchallenging environment. Instead
He gave us freedom to choose our actions, and opportunities to employ
our abilities. We learn by our mistakes and we (should) grow through
our disappointments. Risk-taking is part of being a Christian - we need
to push our boundaries, stretch our capacities and challenge our relationships.
I’ve no doubt that living life to the full is what we need to do.
Jesus came to tell us it is possible. His Holy Spirit is not a spirit
of timidity but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline (2
Tim 1:7). We are his chosen people, holy and dearly loved. Read what
that means in Col 3: 12 - 17 under “Rules for Holy Living”
and let’s try to live like that.
© Sue Whitehead
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