The above picture shows Cairngorm seen through the Sluggan Pass and taken a couple of miles north of Aviemore. As one travels north from Aviemore Cairngorm is hidden behind the hills to the right of the picture. It is only when you reach the point where the pass begins to open up that you begin see the mountain beyond. Initially, it appears towards the right hand part of the gap, but as one continues north it moves towards the centre of the visible gap. Photographically, the ideal shot is where the summit of Cairngorm is over the lowest part of the pass. However, if you continue to travel the summit appears to move to the left of the gap. Though it is difficult to say where exactly the optimum place is exactly where to take your picture. You know when you have gone too far as Cairngorm begins to slide out of view. But we are talking about several hundred yards or metres here rather than a few inches or centimetres.

However, when you hear some people talk about being in the will of God you would think they were referring a mark on a stage where an actor has been told to speak their lines and if they were to move away from that spot they would be moving out of God’s will for their lives. Now there may be some watershed moments in our lives where that might be the case, but for the most part it is not so much as the question of being in God’s will or not, but rather, are we in the optimum place to be in the centre of God’s will for our lives? We may be generally in God’s will by not living an immoral lifestyle, etc., but know there are areas where God is still not at the centre of our lives. But we are all works-in-progress. We live in a world where there is a lot of fear, be it in the secular world where if its not terrorism then there fears over what we eat, the environment, etc. In the church there are also those who peddle fears even if they are often subtle. While as followers of Christ we should aim to be more Christ-like there has to be a reasonable limit to how far we take it. I mean, for example, just because Jesus walked on water we should also be able to walk on water. There might be few out there advocating that (most of them have drowned), but similar arguments are being used by some that just because Jesus did this or that if we do not do it then we should question our salvation. We need to be sure that when we are trying to discern God’s Will for our lives that we are not being swayed by spurious arguments which may deflect us from the path God really wants us to go. Jesus said that perfect love casts out fear, but a church that has lost its first love finds itself tending to resort to fear instead to drive its flock along.

It also has to be said that just because you have a setback that you are no longer in God’s Will for your life, remember Job and his troubles though your critics will condemn you for it. But they will, whatever happens to you anyway.

David Rose, 2017