Rectory Ramblingsā¦ February 2024
Wednesday, 21 February 2024 13:00
Rectory Ramblings…
“Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
(Psalm 30:5)
By the time you read this, according to the calendar, we will be in Spring. Whether or not it feels like it only you can decide. As I write it however, we are still in the grip of what seems to be a particularly dismal winter, officially the wettest since records began in 1836. Many of the fields around me that should be full of winter grains are mud baths or lakes. This winter, it seems, has been hard work with both livestock and arable drops suffering in the weather. Of course, it will not last. Spring is just around the corner now and before long we will be back into summer, the dark and dismal days of winter long forgotten.
Pretty much all of life is the same, whether it is our work, family, personal life: we travel through the seasons of winter hardship, spring growth, summer play and autumn fruits, and all are necessary. The person who is truly at peace with the world and with God is the one who has learned to accept and embrace them all, including the winter. This is not easy, but some people do seem to manage it. Family or friends can help and support us, and the stories of others who have faced the same trials may inspire us, including the story of Jesus of Nazareth. He himself endured and overcame his share of life’s winters, from early childhood as a refugee in Egypt to his death on the cross. During his forty days in the wilderness that we remember during lent, he was tempted to take the easy path instead of God’s path but remained strong in declaring his faith, trust and reliance on his Father in heaven. In the garden of Gethsemane, he asked for the cup to suffering to pass from him, but declared his intention to follow the path that God had set for him to the end. And at the end, in agony on the cross, he still had the strength and grace to forgive those who had put him there and commit himself back in his Father’s hands.
The German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche famously said: “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” To an extent he was right. Experiencing pain at loss and hardship is part of what it is to be human. The dark times may not be pleasant, but they are part of life. If we let them, they have the potential to make the good times seem brighter, and the lessons we learn on the journey can equip us to cope better with the future ahead, whatever it may hold.
“For now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land. (Song of Solomon 20:11-12)
Revd Eddie