Skip to main content

The Seasons Turning

 




Someone said to Ina a few days ago that the rhythm of the natural world had become more important to her than ever.   I know exactly what she means.   Just this week we have been given possible dates and plans for coming out of the different stages of lockdown, but there are many caveats.  And then there is our experience of setbacks and changed plans over the last year.  I know my heart sank when I heard how long we have to wait till we can see family again. And of course there is a certain level of trauma or betrayal when it comes to trusting dates given by our well- meaning governments.      

Beneath all this though the earth is slowly turning and we are moving closer to the sun again and spring is edging her glorious way into our gardens and parks, hills and valleys.  Well, at least winter is slowly withdrawing, but she’s never gone till she’s gone and March could still hold a surprise or two, just like two years ago!    When so much is uncertain the fragile heads of snowdrops and now crocuses pushing their way into the air remind us that some things do not change.  The seasons can be depended on to appear and we are encouraged to trust that somehow we will find a new rhythm to life beyond this rather nightmarish period.

There have been remarkable examples of nature reclaiming man made areas.  One of the best known is the area around Chernobyl where 35 years on from the nuclear disaster eagles, lynx, wolves, wild horses and other endangered species have returned.  Again and again we see the deep processes of the natural world bringing healing and a new stability, for example after the Asian tsunami, or forest fires in Australia or even volcanic eruptions.   Disruptive and cataclysmic events are somehow enfolded into the natural world’s ongoing story becoming chapters that lead to new beginnings in the forward momentum of the world.

I do believe our current crisis will be similar and that our hope lies not only in good political and economic decisions allied with applied science and tech, but also valuing the goodness of the earth and humbly learning from how nature recovers from catastrophe.    Part of that is patience, allowing time for proper health and restoration, being kind to ourselves as we emerge out of the long tunnel of 2020/21.  It is also appreciating that we are part of something bigger, animals and plants in an ecosystem, humans in community, and that we can’t thrive individually until the whole is also healthy. For us this not only means worldwide vaccinations, but also within the UK that so many people and families on the verge of destitution by the impact of the pandemic will not be left behind.

And trusting in a God who brought this world into being, who called it ‘good’ and blessed it with the rhythm of the seasons and the amazing re- generating properties of nature.  

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes forth from my mouth; it will not return to me empty.   You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills will burst into song before you.   Isaiah 55: 10/11.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Re-enchantment

  The magical wonder of snow can be lost by a couple of degrees warming turning the white falling flakes into dismal rain.    It is precisely the same elements of moisture and air, humidity and wind, yet the shifting of the one variant of temperature creates a totally different outcome.  I have only managed three snow days in the mountains this winter, due to a combination of mostly busy diaries and a very unpredictable weather which meant days set aside for a climb would sometimes be literally a washout.  Ina and I did have a good summitting of the Cobbler with the spikes on our boots giving us the grip we needed in the the last snow of the season, and I felt again the sheer wonder of walking in crisp, hard snow as the world fell away around us. It looks like it's gone for the year now though and we have to wait 9 months probably to get out onto the white stuff again.  The hills just look wet and sodden now and most uninspiring... and yet...they are exactl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lambing Snows and Holy Week

  (photo courtesy of Abi Bull, Isle of Skye) Lambing snow is the name given to an early spring snowfall that can catch some of the wee lambs out who are born at the start of the season.   Farmers have to watch out for this and, given care and shelter, the lambs are usually able to survive.   It coincides too with the images of daffodils emerging through a covering of late snow,   a similar sign of hope and new life in a forbidding and even hostile environment. Nevertheless there is something beautiful of this setting of fragile life against the rawness of nature, something that speaks to the heart of the human condition and the poignancy of it all.   I write this on a Good Friday which is set in a global context of much uncertainty and even fear and desperation.    The centuries old story that we are taken back to again and again by the turning of the season, of a God who died for a suffering and broken world, seems to have more resonance than ever. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

FOMO is over

  FOMO is over During the lockdown, for many people, life was a lot quieter and less busy. One of the upsides of this was that the Fear Of Missing Out was suddenly over!    There was nothing happening to miss out on!    FOMO had become quite a thing, particularly among younger people, and at times turned into a genuine fear that missing out on something would be just the worst possible thing.    It’s easy to laugh at it now and wonder what all the fuss was about but many teenagers and young adults especially were glued to their phones just in case they missed something that might leave them feeling left out. As life returns to some sort of a new normal it would seem that FOMO does not quite have the same power it used to as there is so much still not happening. Probably in the small dramas of high school life there is plenty however.    I remember one of my daughters reflecting back on high school saying… ’Dad, I’m so done with all the dr...
2 comments
Read more