Milton Keynes: 18th April 2025
I’ve had a great week but I have been on the road a lot. Last night I found myself staying at a hotel in Milton Keynes. I use this place fairly frequently, and it’s normally reasonably quiet. This, however, is Good Friday. The Easter break. Quiet it was not!
Breakfast Time…
This morning, the breakfast room was very busy. There were lots of families, teenagers, grandparents. and smattering of individuals and couples. Loads of people were browsing their phones, or tablets. One or two business people were keeping their heads down, tapping away at laptops. Not the quiet breakfast I had anticipated.
So, there I was with my second cup of coffee. I was reading the bible on my phone. I was using Bible Gateway (other apps are available). I read the Good Friday passages in all four gospels. Well done me. Treasure in heaven.
I looked around the room, at all the busy-ness and chatter going on around me, people rushing backwards and forwards with drinks and plates of food. It occurred to me with a sense of heaviness that I might be the only person on this room who would even notice that would open my bible today.
Lesson One …
As I was reflecting on all this, I had this image of myself sitting alone in that breakfast room in a place of absolute stillness. I saw myself in focus, whilst all this other stuff went on around me in an out of focus blur. It was a special picture which sort of created an awareness of Christ’s presence in that room. (Psalm 46:10). God is there. Even in the busiest places.
It was a reassuring image. It felt good. Moments like that give me confidence. They build me up. But they occasionally have a context. Sometimes they have an edge.
Lesson 2 …
A short while later, I went for a walk and reflected prayerfully on this image I had seen. In my mind, I looked around again at the people in the room who were not reading the Bible. In my spirit, God sort of asked me who I thought I was to judge them? He reminded me that whatever I might think, His heart is for every one of these people. From the youngest (there was an adorable three month old baby very close by) to the oldest (I was far from being the oldest). He reminded me that I am a very average judge of character. He reminded me that I knew nothing about these people or their relationship with Him. I am looking at them from the outside. Only he can see their hearts. (1 Samuel 16:7b) When will I learn? Ouch!
Lesson 3 …
Then, he kind of showed me the image again. This time it was sort of reversed. I was part of the rush and bustle. I was in the blur. Passing the table where I had been sitting I saw myself as others would have seen me. ‘What do you see? Do you see an angel? Do you see a great and unmissable witness to God’s saving grace?’
No. What I saw was a man in late middle age, sitting in a hotel breakfast room, surrounded by the debris of his breakfast, sipping a luke warm cup of coffee, browsing his phone. He didn’t look particularly happy. A man looking, now I come to think about it, pretty much like everyone else. (Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought: Romans 12:3)
The End Piece …
Well done me? Treasure in heaven? Maybe not!
One cup of coffee. Three lessons. I am a work in progress.
Richard Jackson, West Sussex: LifePictureUK