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2 of my readings this morning were on the parable of the sower.
There are seasons in life and this has been a bit of a pause and review time when hopefully the Lord has been able to plant new ideas and seeds for future fruit.
Thomas Merton speaks about seeds coming to us all the time along life's journey but that, 'most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because we are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity and love'.
This reflects that our hearts need to be open and ready to receive God's word to us, fear and anxiety set a difficult context for the word to reach into, but if we can rest in the God who loves us and is on our side then we can begin to listen.
In a broader picture life itself has its seasons and often in the autumn times when maybe a relationship or job comes to an end we can fell the desperation of a winter chill coming. Parker Palmer wrote: 'In retrospect, I can see in my own life what I could not see at the time - how the job I lost helped me find work I needed to do, how the "road closed" sign turned me toward terrain I needed to travel, how losses that felt irredeemable forced me to discern meanings I needed to know. On the surface, it seemed that life was lessening, but silently and lavishly the seeds of new life were always being sown'.
Tomorrow we will reflect with gratitude on the 75th anniversary of VE Day, it was the end of war but the beginning of a new battle of rebuilding. We are going to emerge soon from our lockdown , may we carry with us the seeds of thankfulness, humility, respect, valuing community and those who serve, etc into a new season of life.