A while ago I wrote about rest. I wasn’t sure how it could be fitted in with the necessarily busy lives that many, particularly those with young families and/or elderly parents, lead. It seems foolish and impossible to suggest that people actually stop doing some necessary things in order to make space to rest. And then my mum became ill. She had, early in the New Year, felt that God was asking her to take a step back. But she genuinely didn’t know how, given her commitments

Recently I had a conversation with a church leader. We had a good conversation ranging over several topics, some at a bit of a tangent. One thing we discussed was how God cares for us. The church leader felt that God meets our needs through fellow Christians. It’s a platitude many of us may be very familiar with, although what it means both when we need someone to help us or when someone needs our help is less clear. I suspect we’re reasonably good at recognisingwhen someone

What does it mean for Jesus to give us rest? It is easy to spiritualise his words – that what he means is that we can carry on in our busy lives, and feel at peace within them. It almost seems wrong to suggest that it means anything else. Peace within the storm, not peace without a storm, and all that. God can’t possibly mean actual physical peace, can he? So he must mean spiritual peace; a spiritual overlay of calmness, serenity and tranquillity as the children throw Lego br