My new job takes me close to Cambridge two or three times a week. I am surrounded by glorious countryside for the entire 50 mile journey which makes it an incredibly pleasant drive (particularly as most of the traffic is heading in the opposite direction!).  Throughout June, the variety of shades of green and the bursts and swathes of red poppies have brought a smile to my face. Never more so than this morning, when the sun was shining, the sky was a brilliant blue and I passed field after field of bright red poppies, bordered with magnificent trees and hedgerows, and then came round a corner to find the horizon filled with blue as a field of flax sat between the poppy fields. This was a new and beautiful sight for me – I love bluebells and poppies and, driving past, the flax was a pretty good substitute for the bluebells.

 A field of beautiful blue flax!

Sadly there was nowhere to stop safely and take in the scene. You probably won’t be surprised to find that blue and red are my two favourite colours, and that I adore the greens and yellows in nature, as well as the heavenly oranges, pinks and purples that are never more beautiful than when painted across the sky at sunset. Walking through bluebell woods in May is an absolute joy. Reaching a hilltop in the middle of the countryside or standing on a mountain takes my breath away. I love colour. God came up with an awesome palette when he made the universe.

So this morning I marvelled at God’s supreme majesty, sorry that I couldn’t stop to admire it more closely as I drove past, deep in admiration of the beauty that surrounded me… and missed my turning. 

A few miles later, I found myself on a country road, driving into a pretty little village and found somewhere to turn around. As I pulled off the road into a layby, a huge grin spread across my face and I stopped the car. Through the gap in the hedge, there was a field of poppies and another of flax!

 A gorgeous poppy field in Cambridgeshire.

Sometimes, we take a wrong turn in life – or perhaps just not the route we had planned. But that doesn’t stop God from blessing us.

We make a poor choice or adopt a bad attitude and feel that we have let God down and don’t deserve his love or that we don’t qualify for his blessing. That’s rubbish. The Bible says “we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3 v 23-24).”  So if we believe that God likes to bless his children, we have to accept that he likes to bless all his children: “The Lord is good to [- that word again -] all, and his mercy is over all that he has made (Psalm 145 v9).”  No exclusions. God still chose to bless me this morning despite me! So if you’ve made a wrong turn, pull over. Turn in the right direction. He’s right there, with his arms outstretched waiting to bless you. “Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him (Psalm 128 v 1).”

Maybe it’s guilt that makes us think God’s blessing can’t be for us. We feel guilty that we haven’t prayed enough, not read enough of the bible, are not working hard enough, being a good enough parent, are not spiritual enough… But God’s blessing is for all. God doesn’t dish out points or gold stars and measure our worth by how many hours we spend in prayer each week, how much of the bible we know, how many qualifications we get, how much time we spend volunteering, how many people we lead to him… Whilst it’s good to do all those things, God doesn’t measure our righteousness by them. He simply looks at Jesus and finds us blameless. He looks at Jesus, who he is and what he did and finds us righteous and therefore worthy of his love and worthy of his blessing. God blessed me with a beautiful, refreshing detour today because he loves me and when he looks at me he sees Jesus, not because of anything I’ve done but because of what Jesus did for me.The prophet Isaiah said: “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels (Isaiah 61 v 10).” In the New Testament we read “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5 v 21).”  So goodbye guilt for not being good enough. Hello guilt-free trying my best!

A beautiful lone poppy in a field of corn.

Or perhaps the route we planned to take hasn’t turned out how we had expected and we are heading down a road that wasn’t on our map. Maybe it feels like a long detour, it’s full of potholes or it’s a narrow country lane that could lead anywhere. Perhaps things in your life haven’t gone as you planned. Perhaps you feel that you’ve missed out, you feel disappointed, frustrated or angry.  Remember that God’s plans are far greater than ours.  ‘“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55 v 8-9).”’  If I had taken my usual turning, yes I would have been blessed by the beautiful view I had glimpsed from the car, but I would have missed the bigger blessing God had for me which today was to stop, walk into those beautiful fields, be surrounded and refreshed by the colours and smell, and have the chance to take pictures to help me remember the moment. So when things aren’t going as you planned or hoped, look to God. ‘“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29 v 11).”’

However you feel today, think about the flax and the poppies – the beautiful nature that surrounds us, and remember that God so loved you, he paid the greatest price to adopt you into his family. He wants to bless you and keep you, shine his face on you, be gracious to you, turn his face towards you and give you peace (Numbers 6 v24-26). You aren’t excluded. You haven’t missed out. You are his treasure, the apple of his eye.

Yet another poppy field by the layby I used to turn round! This picture reminds me of the blood Jesus shed for me. How marvellous!

First written 29th June 2015