My habit at the weekend is to walk up into the village to pick up my Saturday newspaper from the Community Shop in Elmsett. On one particular Saturday it had been raining heavily the night before so the paths around the fields and along the airfield were particularly muddy, “slippy and slidy.” It was the end of February and there were clumps of snowdrops scattered amongst the undergrowth. What particularly surprised me as I walked on the tarmacked surface of the roads through the village, was the number of times I came across earthworms making their way across from one side to the other.
Earthworms emerge after heavy rain because it is easier to move across the surface than to burrow through dense waterlogged soil in order to find food, new habitats or a new mate.
In the world today we might feel bogged down, “two steps forward and one step back.”
Following Jesus, frees us from those things that weigh us down. We still have to “cross the road,” we still have to face whatever life throws at us. But emerging into the light of Jesus makes that journey somewhat easier.
Prayer: Loving Lord Jesus, be with us as we face the struggles of every day living. Thank you that you remove those things that hold us back, that weigh us down, and help us to move in to the light that surrounds us when we emerge from the darkness, so that crossing the road of life becomes that little bit easier. AMEN
(Thanks to Christine for your inspiration for a TFTD around mud!)