I must be getting old. I’ve started saying things like:
‘They don’t make them like they used to…’ and ‘Mind how you go.’ Is this middle age do you think? Am I soon going to wear clothes in various shades of what my local department store nonsensically calls ‘mushroom’ as if that’s a real colour, and demand that the local library is open for longer on a Thursday? Sheesh! My eldest brother has started drinking the water that vegetables are cooked in, for heaven’s sake! It can only be a matter of time before I start doing something as barkingly insane. It’s clearly in my genes.

My parents still own a microwave from the Ark. I think it is about 25 now. It’s enormous- big enough to get a whole Christmas turkey in (should you want to) and still going strong. In contrast, most appliances nowadays come with a warantee and a guarantee – both of which you need within the first 17 seconds of their oh-so-short life. Obselence comes as standard. Perhaps they should advertise that on the box? The latest trend is that these appliances are ‘built-in’, meaning that you have to knock through a wall to get to them when they break…

It made me wonder today what God built into me. When you and I were designed, what did God make as standard in our default factory setting?

I think we were made to be loved and to love in return, to worship and to belong. When these things are missing from our lives, there will be something wrong, some part of us that malfunctions or ‘trips’.

Today as I bemoan the shortcomings of my built-in oven for being genuinely impossible to keep at temperature, I remember that I am designed by someone who never needed a prototype for His invention. We are loved and we belong to our Father. That’s an eternal guarantee I’m glad to possess.