Rectory Ramblings… September 2024
Monday, 26 August 2024 17:21
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
September, the close of summer and the start of autumn, is for many people a time of great change. In the agricultural community it is a time of harvest. Our lanes are populated with large combine harvesters and lorries laden with grain and hay and other crops, and our livestock markets will begin to see early fat lambs and young breeding stock. But even as our old plans have come to fruition, whether refreshed after our summer breaks or exhausted after the harvest we begin to make new plans or put new plans into action. For our young it is often a time of moving to new schools or even leaving the nest as they begin university. For others there are house moves, job moves and in some cases career changes either completed or on the horizon. Together these things cause me to ponder for a while on changes and new beginnings.
Human beings, in spite of being the most resourceful and adaptable of species don’t do change very well. We like the familiar and the comfortable, the status quo. “Don’t rock the boat” and “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” are phrases that I’m sure most of us have heard many times. And yet we live in a world where change is the only constant. Times of relative stability are just that, times of little change rather than times of great change. The problem with change is that it brings with it the fear of the unknown. We can cope more easily with the familiar old than with the unexpected new ones. “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” as they say. However it is also true that our times of greatest growth and richest reward often come after our fearful and daring leaps into the unknown. The familiar twenty-third psalm “The Lord’s my Shepherd” provides us with the picture of a God who will lead us through the rough places to reach new pastures and still waters if we allow ourselves to be guided by him. We may not know where the road will take us and what we will meet on the way, but if we are not prepared to even begin the journey we will never reach the destination and harvest the fruit that God has prepared for us.
So whatever changes and new beginnings we may face this autumn, whether they are few or many, large or small, we can take courage in the words of the prophet Jeremiah. I close this month with this traditional prayer for the start of a new day:
Almighty and everlasting god, we thank you that you have brought us safely to the beginning of this day; keep us from falling into sin or running into danger, order us in all our doings and guide us to do always what is right in your sight.
Revd Eddie