St Johns with St Barnabas

Here we go, into September; I must say, so far I am finding August rather disappointing, but we did have a lovely holiday in the June sunshine in the Lake District. Mopsy dog does not like the rain, or puddles, and certainly not the sea, she won’t even put a paw on the lawn if it’s wet. The weeds have grown apace in the garden, and for some obscure reason the sunflowers have grown upwards but not flowered. Needless to say I am feeling rather cheated. But as I was looking at our new olive tree bought last year, I noticed some tiny olives growing - admittedly they were miniscule but how exciting, especially after the disappointing debacle with the sunflowers. I think I must have a habit of planting things and expecting them to grow without any further tender care.

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It’s easy of course to do that with our own faith lives; we go through seasons in no particular order. In the summer of our lives we expect to see growth; unfortunately this often includes the weeds. Autumn brings harvest, the fruits of our successes, achievements and perhaps failures. The season of winter we can experience sadness, loneliness and sickness. But, hold on, spring brings hope, new beginnings, new opportunities. As I said, these don’t appear in an orderly fashion so that you can prepare yourself - they often take us by surprise.

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As a Christian community we will all be at differing stages, hopefully we can find others who will help us to reflect, share, encourage and walk beside us, especially through the more difficult seasons. Understanding these seasons can bring us hope and direction, and ultimately bring us closer to God. The Bible says “God does have a plan and purpose for our life, plans to prosper and not harm us, plans to give us hope and a future." Seasons change but God remains the same.

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Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father

There is no shadow of turning with Thee

Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not

As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

 

P.S. And maybe the sun will shine in September!!