On the right path...

With all the lovely weather that we've been having recently, I've become much more acquainted with the challenges of the vicarage garden! It didn't take me long to realise that underneath the 'jungle' were stones...thousands of them. So, in my enthusiasm for my newly-found green fingers, I decided to build a path and use the stones as the hard-core. Seemed like a good idea at the time! A week or so later and with some hard work and determination, the path is really taking shape and I feel like 'I'm getting there'...so watch this space!

You may recall that I previously gave a brief mention (3 April) that I have a fabulous little app on my mobile phone. You take a photograph of a plant, it's leaves or flower and hey presto, it not only tells you what it is but it tells you how to tend it, how big it grows and some interesting facts.  The garden has really come to life and shoots are sprining up everywhere. I noticed some unusual leaves in what used to be a garden pond. Turns out it is an Orange daylily. My little app tells me that it is widely known as "Forget Sadness Grass" meaning that you will forget all unpleasant things. Isn't that a lovely thought, especially at this time when we could really do with an injection of comfort.

We don't all have gardens and many of us who do may not enjoy gardening. Being confined to home probably means that we're watching a lot more TV than normal, especially the news to catch up on the latest coronavirus happening around the world. Its depressing stuff and we're bombarded with heart-breaking stories which are resonating hugely with our own lives and situations. The temptation is to switch off the news, tune the TV to another channel or switch it off altogether. The problem with that is that it doesn't change anything, other than giving us some short-lived respite from seeing the suffering of others. Sadly, the world is not all sunshine and light and bad things happen. They always have and they always will.

Being followers of Christ doesn't make us immune to what goes on but it does give us the strength, the comfort and the peace to deal with things. It is at times like these that people look to us to see how we are coping...does our faith in God actually helps us?...could there be any truth in what we believe?...

Religion is a funny thing. We don't have any proof or concrete evidence to back up our beliefs. But we have our faith in God and we draw strength from Him, knowing that he is in the midst of this crisis with us. We've just come through the darkness of Holy Week and then experienced the light and joy of Christ's Resurrection at Easter. This brings us hope in the midst of the messiness of life. Jesus' death and resurrection gives us a new determination to travel the path of faith, to stick with it regardless of the challenges and hurdles. This great gift is just too good to keep to ourselves....

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 

who comforts us in all our troubles, 

so that we can comfort those in any trouble 

with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4