An unexpected benefit of spending weekends with our daughter and son-in-law is getting to see new places. They are not new of course, just new to me. The latest discovery was walking by the river Darent and discovering a great viaduct, towering over a country lane.
Later in the following week I caught up with people I have not seen for a couple of years. Like us, some friends have become new grandparents while others have seen their children leave home, children no more but newly setting out on life, marriage, careers and more. With a sense of regret I saw older friends, now frailer and together we all celebrated the lives of those who have died.
We understand the ebb and flow of life, its high places, and its low places. For every life we celebrate with thanksgiving at its ending, we must have rejoiced in one that is new, and at its beginning. Thinking about that and about the river valley walk with its viaduct and fords, the Old Testament prophesy came to mind. God would drive tunnels through hills, bridge ravines, smooth out stony places and help feet stay sure on the path. I have mixed up references and paraphrased.
Sometimes we sit in the train on the viaduct, making the most of the levelling out. Sometimes it is good to walk the ups and downs to get closer to the detail of the landscape and nature. For some, the rough places are not possible, while others would not want to be associated with the easy path.
It is all the moments of life that make us realise that it is only in the colour and diversity that we can come to appreciate how God is there for is in all life’s moments, in all seasons, all times and all places.
A Prayer –
God, the crooked straightener and the smoother of roughness, may we celebrate the comings and goings of our lives with you, face the peaks and troughs of our lives with you and know that when you walk with us we will not stumble or come to harm until finally we make the last great crossing and come into your glorious presence.
All praise and thanks are yours.
Amen.