REFLECTION

Time for a Faithlift?

It’s really quite disturbing to realise that the agencies and organisations we used to depend on seem no longer trustworthy. Last week a tabloid headline drew our attention to the totally unacceptable wait time you can expect if you phone your GP. And then there was the main correspondent on this page (Gazette last week) complaining about the crime levels in Thurrock and the inadequate response of our local police.

You can add to that the lack of respect shown to teachers, politicians and the judiciary, not to mention my own profession – the clergy! Fifty years ago, our local bobby, our family doctor, our primary school head and our parish priest were held in the highest regard. They were trustworthy and reliable and we could depend on them when we needed help and advice.

Nowadays we get all our advice from Google and our Facebook friends and we look on the statutory bodies with exasperation and contempt. And, sadly, it is not unmerited. Policing, education, medicine, politics and religion are not what they were.

Years of underfunding, the growth of armchair experts and a widespread rebranding of truth and belief coupled with shocking stories of child abuse and wilful neglect has led us to a cynical mistrust of authority and those who are supposed to look after us. Who can we trust anyway?

You’d probably expect me to do a bit of a plug for my guvnor at this point and I have to say He is very dependable and trustworthy. As the book says, He IS Love after all! However, if putting your trust in the Almighty is a bit too much of a leap in the very short-term, how about being a little more trusting yourself?

Encourage the caring agencies, look for good in the politicians, endeavour to be a little less cynical and negative and give a bit more time for others. And smile!

That could start the best Faithlift of all.