The Queen

 A while ago I had an interesting conversation with an American friend about the Queen. My friend said that she admired the woman, recognised the hard work and the committment and the sense of duty, but couldnt quite understand the whole inheritance thing. How can it be fair or right that by an accident of birth some random person gets to be a king or a queen? I tried to explain my understanding of this. Its not the family that you are born into that makes you a Monarch. The Queen didnt become Queen when her father died and someone said ' The King is dead long live the queen'. She only got a job title in that moment. She became Queen when she divested herself of all her vastly expensive robes and stood in a white cotton shift under a canopy, away from the cameras and the watching world and was anointed with oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury in a sacred ceremony. In that moment she, like David and so many Kings and Queens through history, accepted the call of God on her life. She submitted to it with humility and threw herself on His mercy and grace in the sure knowledge that without it she would not succeed. What made her a great Queen was her amazing ability to maintain that attitude of submission and service throughout her life. Over the years of watching her Christmas broadcasts it has become increasingly evident that her reliance on the grace and kindness of God has kept her going. She is probably one of the most prayed for people on the planet and I think her grateful acceptance of all those prayers sustained her to the end. I hope she is skipping into heaven surrounded by dogs and horses and music and dancing. I hope she gets to sit down with the King of Kings and compare notes on being Royal

And more than anything I pray that her son has watched and learned from her example and approaches his coronation with reverence and a deep understanding of the calling that God has put on his life and the invitation He is extending. Charles has a choice. Will it be a job title or an anointing?