The year is getting off to a quiet start for Gemma Hunt. But after years of freelancing she’s learned to trust God with her calendar
Pine needles, glitter, a few chunks of cheese and the unpopular Christmas chocolates are all that are left.
Just a few weeks ago the anticipation of Christmas, the hubbub of gatherings and festive songs playing while the tree twinkled above the pretty presents were all full of hope and expectation. It has been a lovely time, with some bittersweet moments amidst the laughter, I am grateful for this time of year. But, taking everything down and revealing the mess, the void where the tree was, the plain decor where there was previously colour and sparkle always leaves me feeling a bit exposed and empty. The house looks bigger somehow yet is now more full because of the generous gifts we’ve been given. Our daughter loves playing with her toys and we have accepted that they are now part of the house decor and they do bring a lot of colour and life to our home, but it’s not quite the same as the Christmas decorations.
As we wind away the fairy lights and carefully box up the baulballs and ornaments I do wonder what life will look like when we unpack them again in eleven months time. What memories from 2025 will we look back at fondly? What will bring a prickle of a tear to our eye? What are we glad to have seen the back of? I don’t know. My reassurance comes from the belief that God knows.
I do not fret or worry about work coming in because “God knows.”
‘God knows’ is often used rhetorically when someone is at a loss of a reason for something or an explanation they cannot fathom and implies that God also doesn’t know. But I feel we should use that as a comforting statement. “God knows” smiled my dear friend recently who in her 70 plus years on earth has learned to put her trust in God for being her provider and protector because she has experienced his faithfulness. Easy said, hard done though, sometimes.
As a freelancer I look at my diary at this time of year and there may be a couple of big events like a wedding or a festival in there, but nothing much else. It’s been like this for the last 21 years and my husband has learned in our ten years of marriage that I do not fret or worry about work coming in because “God knows.” God knows what we need and will provide that.
I am often quoted at this time of year as saying, “OK then God, here’s my empty diary - it’s time for you to show off!” And each year I can look back and faithfully profess that God has indeed ‘shown off’ by providing me with work, opportunities, new connections and adventures and allowed me to use the common response to people asking me what I’m up to, “things are really busy at the moment.”
Things will get busy. Not just in work but in life in general and I’m just catching my breath at the start of this new year and taking it all in. It might feel a bit lonely around me sometimes and I might feel a bit empty inside at the moment but I am choosing to take comfort in the knowledge of Jesus as my friend and the Holy Spirit as my comforter and ponder on the words from Isaiah 61:10 (NIV) “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness.” I won’t feel quite so exposed now.
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