WINTER LESSONS?
As I write the latest burst of extreme winter weather has departed south and the sun is trying to break through.
The winter that is slowly drawing to a close has generally been agreed to have been a tough one. Large amounts of snow and prolonged freezing temperatures have brought a variety of challenges.
Thinking about these past couple of months I offer a few reflections.
Firstly we perhaps need to give thanks for the sheer volume of goodwill that exists within our communities. As I have spoken to folk during the past weeks there has been a recurrent theme - that of how people have rallied around to help one another - not just friends and family but often comparative strangers. Indeed one of the challenges has been that very often people have been cut off from friends and family. Such goodwill has been wonderful to see.
Secondly we perhaps need to take time and reflect for a moment about how we have developed something of an arrogance about our relationship with the weather. We simply expect to be able to travel when and where we like - and if we cannot then it is somebody's fault - usually the Council's. In one sense this is something of an urban mind-set, but it seems to have spread even into rural thinking. Should we not expect that travel plans are likely to be disrupted during the winter and recognise that we may not be able to travel when we hope to?
Thirdly we perhaps need to reflect upon what we have learnt about priorities. Which journeys really matter and which are less important? And perhaps specifically for us as Christians where did attendance at worship fit in - as important as going shopping/ visiting someone in hospital/ getting to work/ ??????
Upheavals in life usually provide the opportunity to re-consider our habitual ways of thinking and behaving. The important thing is not to simply slip back into the old routines.
Yours in Christ