Hold the moment
A surprise hail storm makes Self-Reliant Group facilitator, Laura Walton, consider the uncertainties of life
Working up a sweat whilst digging at the allotment this week, I was confused by what I thought was blossom drifting onto the dark soil I was exposing. It was in fact small tight balls of hail! Perfectly round pellets of ice bouncing down around me. I’d brought packets of seeds with the intention of planting but the hail threw me. Planting in the snow I knew would not impress anyone and certainly was not to be found in my RHS Allotment book.
Early morning shopping at Aldi found me stopped in my tracks as I emerged into a mini blizzard. Quite incredible after coffee in the back garden only the day before resulted in a sun burnt ear! Hail, sun, snow, sun. Gloves, t shirt, scarf, sunglasses. Life is still very unpredictable. But one thing we have learnt in the last year is to take each day a little bit more as it comes and rely less on our own plans and organisation of our time. Without thinking and worrying too much about what is out of our control, we have more time to enjoy the things of today especially if that means snow in April when the supermarkets are full of disposable bbqs and sun loungers.
As shops spruce themselves up for a return to business and we get ready for a gear change with hairdressers open again, charity shops to be delved into, local libraries and the odd theme park, let’s not forget the lesson of the snow in spring or the hail instead of blossom. We live in unpredictable times and have only some control over our tomorrows, unlike Mr. Johnson. So we have learnt to give up worrying beyond this current 24 hours and concentrate more on the NOW which is actually always enough. We can say this to ourselves, our anxious kids going back to school again, friends going into work again with the public and those who have been religiously shielding and who can now after one or two jabs and a letter, jump on a bus into town, grab a coffee, hit the sales………or not.
We all have our fears about next week, our excitements and our reliefs but all come with an underlying unease of what the future holds and how long it will all last, despite the rapidly rising number of people who have had one jab or two.
We all have questions and spend time wondering about ifs and maybes when we should be being content with the moment that is.
The God in the bible takes those questions, wonderings, uncertainties and fears off our hands and points us instead to the moments surrounding us. There we can find everything we need and so much more.
Stop and think about this moment that is, whether it’s a night time or a daytime moment, a dark or a bright one, a noisy one with warm voices or a silent and cold one. God knows where you are and where you are at. He knows your moment and he knows you. He holds that moment and he holds you now and for always.
From the song …..If He can hold the world,
He can hold this moment.
You’ll find that He’s enough.
Find out more about Self-Reliant Groups: http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/srg
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