Diana's Weekly Thoughts
As I looked out into my garden I was pleased to see the green tips of bulbs poking through the snow, earlier than usual again despite the bad weather. Two weeks on I am watching their buds develop in eager anticipation of that brief splash of vivid colour that only comes in Spring. On Wednesday I had to go to Walton-on-Thames and as I turned off the A3 at Esher there, unexpectedly, was Wordsworth’s /“host of golden daffodils”./ On the roundabout under the main road it is very sheltered and the plants are undisturbed by passers by or vandals. The sun was shining and it was a real boost to the morale to see them. I do not go that way often but it happened that on that particular day I had to go round the roundabout six times, it was as if I was being rewarded with the display as compensation for the drudgery of driving half the day.
One poem I learnt to recite at a very early age began: “Little brown houses, now what do you hold? Treasures of purple, and crimson and gold?” (CE Pike) Of course the brown houses are bulbs or corms and I have always had a fondness for these over the showier herbaceous perennials or blousy annuals, both of which demand constant attention and titivation. It is amazing that you can put something so gnarled and ugly in the ground, leave it unattended in the worst of conditions and (if the squirrels do not intervene) be rewarded year after year with a magnificent display of colour just when you feel at your lowest after days of dark and cold.
Everything comes from a germinal form and develops – plants, animals, organisations or ideas. Today we are giving thanks for the safe arrival of Owen James. He has negotiated one of the trickiest events of his life – transition from being nurtured in the womb to being an independent individual and is now developing his own character, starting on the path to the man he will eventually be. He will not be able to manage without his parents for some years yet and it is from them and his close relatives that he will learn not only about the necessities for survival, such as food and shelter, but what it means to be human, to be part of a family and part of a community. Of course with Bob and Ann for grandparents we also hope he will learn about God’s family and we pray today that God will protect him and be in his life.
As a church we too are developing. We know that not to change means stagnation and death but there is much good in the past that we would not want to lose. We have had many discussions about where we are going and how and today we have another business meeting to continue the discussion. The Church Vision has been updated but if you compare it with the previous versions it is only the language that has changed, the ethos is still the same, like the bulbs the good basic design produces the same results every time.
Another of those poems I learnt in my childhood included “March brings breezes loud and shrill, stirs the dancing daffodil” yet here we are in February and the daffodils are “fluttering and dancing in the breeze”. It seems we have managed to manipulate nature not only by genetically altering the bulbs themselves but also by global warming. Whether you believe Darwin or not things are changing and evolving, some naturally and some with the help of science. Man could not invent anything without God allowing him or even helping him to do so. We must continue to pray and listen to God’s reply about our future actions, individually and corporately.
A final poem from my childhood goes:
“She wore her yellow sunbonnet, she wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind and curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight and shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour “Winter is dead.” (AA Milne)
Our aim should be to achieve our potential in Christ. Then our dark days will be gone.
