July 2020
Bacon butties at the ready!
I was reading an article in the Summer edition of Broadleaf, the magazine of the Woodland Trust. It was about trees, their healing & health giving benefits. 6 people briefly described how trees had relieved stress or anxiety & depression. All very good but not one gave thanks to their Maker. What happened to "All things bright & beautiful, the Lord God made them all"? (And everything else).
The nearest two writers got to religion was "helps me get through the day" & "trees feed our spirit & calm our soul".
My wife Lynda & I are fans of Flanders & Swann & some of their songs in 'At the drop of a hat.' They are pretty scathing about the British weather.
Flanders. 'It was a nice summer this year.
Swann. Was it? I missed it. I was in the bathroom.'
But one couplet has a hidden message from the Lord. "In July the sun is hot. Is it shining? No, it's not! But of course it is always shining. It is just the clouds that hide it from our sight. Just as the God who neither slumbers nor sleeps is always there & his Son, the Lord is always loving us & offering the gift of his peace, even when troubles crowd in upon us & we let them cloud over the heavenly vision.
May ours be 2020. But the people have become hard-hearted & blind & deaf to the Lord. Acts 28:25-27. Paul quoting Isaiah.
May the Lord grant us his Peace in these troubled times.
Terry Connellan.