Thought for the month

FROM THE RECTOR:

Hello everyone,

I do hope you are all well.   I am enjoying the longer daylight hours of this month; I find it so much easier to fit in getting out for a walk and getting a few jobs done in the garden!

And yes, I have got lambs that I was waiting for, the fields around me have filled with lambs and their mums these past few weeks.  It has been so amazing to watch how in the first few days the lambs hardly settled, gambolling about, running here and there, but now they are following their mums, heads down nibbling at the grass; although they still do get to up to a few antics and I have to drag myself away from watching this tranquil scene.  I did not realise this sight would bring me quite so much joy and pleasure.

Life is certainly changing around us and everything is opening up, the flowers, the length of days, life the in the fields, and with April coming from aperire, the Latin verb ‘to open’ this seems so fitting with us all longing to open up our lives again.  What joy it is to be making some plans to meet up with others, I do hope you have been able to make such plans and organise catch ups with family and friends outdoors.   I have plans that I hope will have happened by the time this message goes out, but as with the dawning of the seasons, things do not always go as we had hoped or planned, a familiar theme of this year, no wonder they say patience is a virtue!

Locally our churches have begun to open our doors more regularly and over this month of April we hope to start having ‘in church’ services again, please look locally for updates re this.  And all the churches within the benefice are preparing for Easter as I write, all preparing to participate in various ways to celebrate this great day when we remember Jesus rising from the tomb bringing eternal life for all.

And of course, with all this talk of Easter we know that the season of Lent is over – we can refresh ourselves with the things we may have denied ourselves, the chocolate, the sausages, the glass of wine. Or maybe this year you took on doing positive things to improve yourself or to help out with others and are now considering which ones to take forward. 

Whatever your circumstances we are coming to a time of great hope as a country, as a local community, after a really hard year; particularly hard for some with loss of loved ones, loss of work and pressure of life in lockdown, you have all done such a great job in supporting and helping each other, that will need to continue.  But there is now also much anticipation and excitement, and maybe a little trepidation too, as we begin to meet up again, as shops begin to open, as we get a haircut!  Please go forward with caution and with thanks for all those who are trying to keep things safe for us but let us all find joy and pleasure in the simple things of being together and of seeing life coming to its fullness around us. 

I look forward to meeting up with you soon, as always please ring if you would like a chat,

Many blessings to you all,  Revd Paula