I was struggling to get going on Monday. There had been a lot going on over the last few days and there was much heavy with me this week. There was grief in the air and in my heart. It was a grey grim day too. The weather forecast for the few days ahead was not good. February had fooled me. I had been seduced by the belief that Spring was here, or nearly here, but the weather this week has had other ideas. Spring will come, but not in my time.
Despite how I was feeling on Monday morning, I got on with my day, I managed to get quite a lot of work done in the morning. Then after taking Molly for a long walk I headed to the gym, wondering what we might explore in worship this week. I started on the cross trainer, facing out of the window, looking at the bus station across the road, watching the world pass by. I saw several folk I knew, including from the congregation. I saw Helen and David Copley and then Barbara Thackery, how it lifted my spirits. I had a seen a video of Barbara in the Altrincham Matters Facebook group. It had been of her happy smiling face running the Trafford 10k on what was her 85 birthday, raising money for St Anne’s Hospice . Barbara has become a bit of a local inspiration, a celebrity dare I say. Seeing her pass by certainly lifted my spirits and I found myself singing the lyrics “In the spring time of our year, silver buds of hope appear.” Such inspiration and hope can come in so many forms. As I continued on I thought to myself, ok it still feels quite wintery, but spring and new life and new hope will soon be here. We are heading in the right direction.
It is now March and we have stepped into the season of Lent, but we are still experiencing wintery weather. It even snowed this week. There have been some signs of spring these last few weeks but it is not quite here yet. I know most of us want winter over and the new life of spring. We want Easter and the re-birth of spring to come oh so soon, but first we have to travel through the barren wilderness of March and Lent. Yes, new life will soon be here and we will get to enjoy the full blooming promise of warmer time, including that gorgeous pink snow that comes with the cherry blossom. The new life will soon be with us.
We are now well into the 40 days of Lent; Lent a time of reflection; a time of temptation; a time to observe and find answers; Lent a time of preparation. These forty days or so are meant to be a barren time, where we strip ourselves down of luxuries and distractions to give birth to new treasures that can be symbolically born again at Easter time. Not an easy time and a time to experience a sense of loneliness as we enter our inner wilderness. We may feel a little lost at times, but do not fear we are headed in the right direction.
This is not the end of winter, but maybe it’s the beginning of the end or at least the end of the beginning. There are seeds of hope being planted and there are new shoots all around us. Hope springs eternal and we do not seem too far from spring. The seeds are there planted beneath the earth, waiting to give birth.
Maybe there are lessons that we can learn from the patience of seeds as we wait for the spring of re-birth. They lay there buried, surrendered to the process that is yet to come, when they will flower and flourish for all to share. Like those seeds there is so much buried within us waiting to be born, ok not today, but it is coming soon. There are signs of hope though, may we nurture them.
Spring begins tentatively, but it advances with tenacity. All the new life touches me deeply. No matter how small and delicate the roots are they insist on coming to life; they insist on their way as they press up through ground that looked, only a few weeks earlier, as if it would never grow anything again. The crocuses and snowdrops don’t bloom for long. But their mere appearance, however brief, is always a harbinger of hope — and from those small beginnings, hope grows at a geometric rate. The days get longer, the winds get warmer, and the world grows green again.
This brings to my heart the wonderful poem “Metamorphosis” by May Sarton; a poem about transformation during springtime.
“Metamorphosis” by May Sarton
Always it happens when we are not there —
The tree leaps up alive in the air,
Small open parasols of Chinese green
Wave on each twig. But who has ever seen
The latch sprung, the bud as it burst?
Spring always manages to get there first.
Lovers of wind, who will have been aware
Of a faint stirring in the empty air,
Look up one day through a dissolving screen
To find no star, but this multiplied green,
Shadow on shadow, singing sweet and clear.
Listen, lovers of wind, the leaves are here!
Spring is coming. No it is not here yet, but it is coming. We just need be patient and keep on moving in the right direction. People though are not patient, we want what we want and we want it now. We don’t like uncertainty either. Life though rarely offers such things, especially not with regard to weather in March, certainly not here in the North West of England. The only thing certain about late winter and early spring is how uncertain the weather will be. Tuesday was as blue and beautiful a day as we could wish for and yet by Wednesday it was snowing.
Is spring here? Well it seems not quite yet.
This brings to mind a wonderful bit of wisdom from the American author and Unitarian Universalist minister Robert Fulgham, it is simply titled “Belum”
“Belum” by Robert Fulghum
"Americans, it is observed, prefer definite answers. Let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. Yes or no. No grays, please.
In Indonesia, there is a word in common use that nicely wires around the need for black and white. Belum is the word and it means ‘not quite yet.’ A lovely word implying continuing possibility. “Do you speak English?”
“Belum.” Not quite yet. “Do you have any children?” “Belum.” Do you know the meaning of life?” “Belum.”
It is considered both impolite and cynical to say, “No!” outright. This leads to some funny moments. “Is the house on fire?” “Belum.” Not quite yet.
It’s an attitude kin to that old vaudeville joke: “Do you play the violin?” “I don’t know, I never tried.”
Perhaps. Maybe. Possibly. Not yes or no, but squarely within the realm of what might be. Soft edges are welcome in this great bus ride of human adventure.
Is this the best of all possible worlds? Belum.
Is the world coming to an end? Belum.
Will we live happily ever after? Belum.
Have we learned to live without weapons of mass destruction? Belum.
In some ways, we don’t know. We’ve never tried. Is it hopeless to think that we might someday try? Belum. Not quite yet."
I love this piece of wisdom from Robert Fulghum on Belum, this concept of uncertainty, but a faithful uncertainty, that nothing is ever fully sealed, not yet at least. However hopeless things may feel at the present moment it does not mean that all is despair. Look around you, look into your own heart. There is love and goodness present both within you and in life. There are those around you that can bring inspiration to your being, who have the courage to say yes to life, that have hope lightening and inspiring their hearts. I witnessed this so many times these last few days. Is it spring? Belum, not quite yet. That said if we keep on heading in the right direction, it will soon be here, just not quite yet.
“In the spring time of the year, silver buds of hope appear.” They are appearing all around us. I was talking with Nick and Aled the other day as they were working away in the gardens of the chapel, as the flowers and buds were appearing. Aled said I think that the snow might hold off until tomorrow. We said, it’s in the south and might not reach here. Is it snowing? Belum, not quite yet. For within two hours it was snowing.
Is it spring yet? Belum, not quite yet.
It is coming, we are headed in the right direction. Our task, to keep on planting our own seeds, so that in the spring time of all our years, those silver buds of hope keep on appearing. This is our task, to plant the seeds of hope, and someday they will bear fruit. They may not come to fruit in our time, “belum, not quite yet.”
It is up to us. What are we going to do? Are we going to keep on planting the seeds in our hearts and souls right here right now in this near spring. You never know who you might be inspiring one cold Monday morning when they are struggling to get going.
t’s up to us right here right now. Hope is not something we passively dream of in the future, something beyond this life. It has to be born here right now, in our heart and souls or not at all.
I wish for you the courage to allow the seeds of Hope to form in your hearts and souls. Let’s not give up on our belief in love and life, well at least not quite yet, Belum.
Please find below video devotion based on the material in this "blogspot"
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