I must be honest and tell you all that I had something rather horrifying happen to me earlier this week. I was about 90-95% finished with the October paper when my laptop screen went all crazy, and then the computer refused to let me sign in. I was almost sick because, like a fool, I had not backed up my work for some time, and I was at that point only two days away from the deadline for the paper. Thankfully, because of the kindness of colleagues and their offers of help, you have the paper despite my woes.
I lost the editorial that I had written, or maybe it’s still there, locked away in the hard drive of my laptop, but it’s gone off to be fixed (I pray), and so I must write a new one. Today is September 8th, and today Queen Elizabeth II died.
I’ve been a fan of the Queen’s for as long as I can remember, and while many of you who are reading this may not be supporters of the monarchy in general, I think that most will agree that Elizabeth II was an amazing person and a strong leader. She brought a staggering amount of experience and knowledge to all that she did, and the outpouring of love that we are seeing in the aftermath of her death is proof of that.
But the thing that will always stay with me are her Christmas messages. These days, we can watch the Royal Family’s YouTube channel and watch the Christmas message more- or-less whenever we want to, but when I was a child, we knew when the Queen was on tv, and we’d all stop opening gifts to go and listen to her.
Her clear messages of hope in tough times, and her unwavering Christian faith were an inspiration to me always. Many world leaders, dependant on the fickle nature of voters, might shy away from overt Christian messages, but our late Queen didn’t have to, and never did. She spoke of Jesus and his love, and in her kind (yet I suspect quite firm), and compassionate way, she lived her Christian faith every day of her life.
And what of King Charles? He is well known to be interested in many faiths but remains himself a devout Anglican. I have heard that he will take the title of “Defender of the Faiths,” which is respectful of the many faiths that exist within the Commonwealth. Time will tell what he will say about that in his Christmas messages, but I suspect that we will still have a monarch who will do his best to lead from a place of faith relying on God’s love to sustain and uphold him. May God bless King Charles and sustain him.
