RevTim: Clap your hands

12 You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands! (Isaiah 55:12 NLT)

At eight o'clock last night I stood in my doorway and started to clap. Around the square where we live neighbours were doing the same, some were cheering others sounding their car horns, in the background we saw fireworks fill the sky. This was happening across the land in support of, and to say a very big thank you to, our nations care workers and NHS staff.

And quite right too. My dad worked for the NHS from its early days going to train as a laboratory technician after finishing his National Service in the RAMC. He stayed all of his working life , even when given the opportunity to get a better paid job elsewhere, eventually becoming a Chief Scientific Officer running a lab in a hospital. Many a night he would be on call, being called out to crossmatch blood and so on. Then he would go to work the next morning. The last job my mum had was as a nurse in an anti natal clinic. I was lucky enough to get a job during my student days as a grade three orderly, aka a cleaner, meeting some truly wonderful people. Today our daughter works for the NHS and we are so very proud of her.

There are many families up and down the land who will have similar stories about loved ones who have committed their lives to care for others by working for the NHS and care sector. They do not do it for the money, they do it because of the type of people they are, and through what they do I am convinced we see the love and power of God at work bringing hope and healing.

So when we were all clapping last night I have no doubt God and the whole company of heaven, including dad, and perhaps even the trees of the field were clapping their hands too.

Dear God