Grief is the price we pay for love

Yesterday afternoon Queen Elizabeth II died. Whilst we all knew it would happen the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and beyond and have gone into shock. Grief does that to you. Even when you know it’s going to happen it is still a shock when it does. It was the Queen herself who said, ‘Grief is the price we pay for love.’ If we didn’t love it wouldn’t hurt. I’m sure there are mixed emotions today from lots of people. Even if you aren’t a royalist the Queen has been so much a part of our country you cannot help but be saddened. Today is the first day of ten days of official morning. 

Yesterday Before the news was announced I completed a new jigsaw puzzle. Unfortunately it didn’t fit in my jigsaw board so I had to improvise a little. The puzzle was if the London skyline including the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben. We use our eyes to see, they cast vision. Parliament is where the countries big decisions and laws are made. Our new Prime Minister Elizabeth Truss has on Monday taken up her new post. Big Ben is part of the iconic landscape and calls the time. 

Big Ben chimes the changes of our nation. 

From it the watchmen see and pray. 

Parliament takes up its mantle 

and the country grieves the passing of the Queen. 

The new season is upon us 

we wait with urgency 

as the roaring of the lion 

seeks to devour its prey.

Changes are afoot 

the lamb is at the door 

the two will lie together 

will you welcome them once more? 

The place I grew up

The hills and the valleys majestic they stand

The streets and the alleys echoing still

The patter of feet and songs of the sheep

The mills turn their hands as the streams rush on by. 

The lock gates are raised, joy is released.

Creation speaks and artists paint

pictures with canvas and words. 

The sun bows it’s head

The wind blows the trees 

History is woven

and made in 

Stroud town.

©Revdjo 16/6/22

Lost

‘I think we’re lost!’ ‘Well if you’re lost I’m lost to!’ I love to go out walking and finding new footpaths. I like the sense of adventure it gives to just be following a map or a set of directions. As a child I was always out playing in the fields or ridding my bike. I’m happier outside than in if truth be told. I’ve walked more since the pandemic than I ever have as an adult and I’ve loved every minute of it. It’s a chance to stop and stare and feel close to God through creation. It’s become more of a part of my own spirituality than ever before. 

There have been occasions when my husband has looked at me a little worried as to where we are going and more to the point wondering if we are lost. My sense of direction is pretty good, unless I’m in a shopping centre but that’s another matter! Maps and sat. navs. help us to find the way but you still need to know where you are for them to work, or at least the very least you need a grid reference or a satellite signal!  

We can of course all feel lost at times, even when we know where we are. There that feeling of not quite being comfortable in ourselves, or that something is missing, or not quite right. The pandemic has made us all on high alert, to greater or lesser degrees, and our fight or flight response has been switched to overdrive. I’m normally quite a laid back kind of person and good in a crisis but at times I’ve felt  stressed, and anxious and not known what to do with myself.  In that event there has only been one way for me to deal with it and that was/is to get out and walk. Walking helps me feel more grounded, more at peace with myself. Yes, because I’m out in creation, but I feel it to with a walk around the block near to where I live. I feel grounded in main because I give God the chance to break into my thoughts and anxieties and stress. There is something about looking out, rather than at looking in on ourselves and our own problems. Look out at this beautiful land of ours and notice the small things. Notice the incidentals that we have missed when we have been racing around with work or our racing brain has overlooked them. 

The pandemic has given us all a new view of the world and made us take stock of ourselves. Most of us have reprioritised our lives, or at least thought about it. We have realised the importance of family and friends and being there for one another. We have realised who are friends are, and unfortunately taken note of those who haven’t seemed to care, or at least have been too rapped up in their own problems to notice we are struggling. So do you still feel a little lost? Or maybe you feel totally lost? Or like you want to throw in the towel? - please don’t. There is only one person who can fill that void, that lost feeling. There is only one person who can calm our soul. There is only one answer to the muddle and confusion of the pandemic. That person’s name is Jesus. Do you know him? Would you like to know him more? Trust me he is the answer. Try talking to him he will respond if you give him a chance. 

Life in a Roundabout way

Life can be a bit like a roundabout sometimes. It can spin so fast you want to get off but most of the time it’s a lot of fun. Ever feel you are going around in circles? Or perhaps stuck on the same loop? It’s easy to get into bad habits, less easy to break them. How easy has it been to put on weight during the lockdowns we have had? How easy was it too loose those extra pounds? If we want to do it properly we have to track those calories, and macros, and make sure we exercise regularly. If we put the effort in and track our steps we eventually get there. 

Moses took the Israelites through on what but have seemed like a never ending journey. Were they ever going to reach that promised land? God has a habit of leading us the long way round. There are lessons he wants us to learn along the way. Without the wilderness experiences we don’t grow, in-fact we just become complacent and comfortable. There is more to life than sitting in our cosy armchair in our PJs and fluffy slippers. This journey that God invites us on with him is one of joy and excitement. Embrace it! 

Lead me to the helter-skelter Lord! Bring on the laughter!

Look

As I reflect back on 2021 I can not help but be a little saddened. It’s a year all of us would have found difficult with the threat of Covid-19 hanging over us, like the proverbial bad penny. Life was not as it used to be. In many ways it is a distortion of what it should be, and yet this is life. Life to be lived and embraced, well maybe not so much of the embracing! As a hugger I’ve missed being able to hug my friends and those in need of comfort. Boris Johnson cry to ‘keep safe’ and ‘to keep the two meter rule’ has, in the main, been heeded. Then we could get closer as long as we were wearing a protective mask, but not too close! Then have been so many restriction and rule changes it’s been hard to keep up at times. 

‘This far the Lord has helped us’ (1Samuel 7:12) but with all journeys there has been tears along the way, but there has also been joy. For me the birth of a grandson, and the news of another little one on the way. There’s been breaks away and exploring along the Devon and Cornwall coast. There’s been many a walk in the woods or across the fields, down tracks I’ve never ventured before. There has been time to sit, and to gaze, and to wonder. There has been more time to simply be, and more time to hang out with the Creator and hear his voice through the wings of a butterfly, or the bleating of a sheep, or the bubbling sound of streams and rivers, and the roar of the ocean. 

In many ways my senses have been heightened and fine tuned. It has its advantages when it comes to listening to and sensing God. The disadvantage comes when I’m left on ‘high alert’ and the constantly covid risk assessments are left dancing in my head. We have all needed to keep grounded and I’m sure we are all that little bit more resilient for ploughing on through such difficult times. 

As I look forward to the journey ahead and what 2022 has in store for me I wonder who will come on that journey with me? Where will we go? What will we find along the way? Will it all be an uphill struggle? Will there be fun along the way? The good thing about climbing hills and mountains is the view from the top. Psalm 24 asks, ‘Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?’ The invite is to all of us. There may be things that have to be worked out along the way, but that’s OK. Grace and mercy are offered in abundance. (Have a look at the Psalm if you wonder what I’m talking about.) 

Will you come and join me in my journey through 2022? The territory is unknown, we have not been that way before, but ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us’ and I have no doubt he will continue to do so.