[This reflection by David Makanjuola was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 25/Jan/2026]
I received a lovely Christmas present – a journal. It looks really upmarket; the sort of journal you want to make sure you don’t make any spelling mistakes in as you write. Each blank page invitingly encourages you to fill it in with … Yes, that’s the problem. Fill it in with what?
I don’t know about you, but when I look back on the day or the week that has just gone, often the memories that are most vivid are of times I have been hurt by others, mistakes I’ve made, or disappointments that have happened. I don’t often remember my blessings, let alone count them.
There’s a Nigerian saying that goes, “There’s no one God hasn’t blessed, just that most feel they haven’t been blessed enough”.
There is a story of two friends walking through the desert. During some point in the journey, they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand, “Today my best friend slapped me in the face.”
They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but his friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone, “Today my best friend saved my life.”
The friend, who had slapped and then saved his best friend, asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now you write on a stone. Why?” The other friend replied, “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can erase it.” Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your blessings in stone.
The current sermon series on Black and White thinking is helpful, as I think about what to write in my journal. Perhaps a note about people I’ve judged (more likely mis-judged) the week before, so it serves as a reminder not to do that when I read it later. I should definitely be careful not to use it as a place where I keep count of wrongs done to me. Martin’s sermon reminded us about Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, where he is telling them about the characteristics of Love:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
1 Corinthians 13 v4-5 [NIVUK]
Sorry, but it is now time to end this article – I need to go and write in my journal.
Have a blessed week,
David
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Last Sunday’s reflection: One Disturbed Listener by Dennis Ginter
Contributed by David Makanjuola; © David Makanjuola