The Gift of Time

In all this time you have why don't you take up a hobby? 

In all this time you have why don't you do a theological reflection?

In all this time you have why don't you contribute to my study on life in a time of more time?

In all this time you have why don't you spend hours creating a flashy video that knocks the socks off all the rest?

In all this time you have why don't you join my zoom support group to help with all this time you have?

In all this time you have why don't you get down on your knees and pray? 

In all this time you have can you find some time? 

No, no I can't. I'm not sure as I peruse facebook  groups how people are finding the time to do all the things they want others to find the time to make the time to do. I'm not sure how they fit it all in. I often wonder if I am lazy or just slow or just not committed enough to ensuring I get all the time to make the time to do all the things they want me to have the time to make the time to do. 

Then I remember......

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven, and that doesn't mean I have to do everything at once.

There is a time to celebrate with someone their new baby, their new project, their newly discovered talent, and a time to walk with those who are sorrowful, who are mourning, who are walking with the dying and dealing with loss.

There is a time to tidy up the garden and make it more beautiful than ever before and also a time to clear up the mess you never had time for before. 

There is a time to tear down old structures and declare good riddance and there is a time to build up those who are mourning the loss of the old as we plan for new ways as yet unknown.

There is a time for fear and crying and despair, just as there is a time for joy to explode in uncontrollable laughter as we see new things amongst rubbish or maybe just need to laugh.

There is a time for mourning, a huge time for mourning - the effects of years of austerity and the catastrophic effects this is having on our response to this crisis, but there is a time also to dance and celebrate with those who are creating hope amongst - the fundraisers, the community groups, the NHS workers who we celebrate with joy and with thankfulness....

There is a time to scatter stones, to look outwards, to dream, and there is a time to gather our dreams and hold onto them waiting to see if they will be realised. 

There is a time to embrace - and that will come and a time to refrain from embracing and social distance like pros. 

There is a time to search for new ways and there is a time to give up and realise that we've done the best we can for now.

There is a time to keep what is normal and a time to throw away those things that used to hold us back and don't seem important anymore. 

There is a time to be still, to be silent (it's number 6 on my weekly list) and a time to speak and attend zoom calls, one must not be more than another. 

There is a time to love those around us deeply and a time to hate those things that mean that we cannot love

There is a time for fighting all this and a time to find deep peace that passes all understanding. 

There is a time for all of this, but now is not the time for it all. 

Be gentle, do what you can, not what you think you should be able to do. And be still, find rest, sit down - for God has time for all of this. 

Navigating the Magic Roundabout

A few weeks ago I came across a very special roundabout. A Magic Roundabout. Not the Magic Roundabout but one of four so-called 'magic roundabouts' in towns that have grown rapidly and the road systems have grown rapidly with them.... I don't know what it is about rapidly growing towns, but roundabouts feature heavily. 

The Plough Roundabout in Hemel Hempstead is one such magic roundabout. Not only has it got a large roundabout in the middle, but it has six mini roundabouts round the outside. Look at it as a newcomer and it seems like a logistical nightmare..... but step away from the bigger picture and take its roundabouts one at a time, treating each roundabout as a new challenge to be completed then you quickly get to where you need to be going. 

Look at the beauty of it in this video.....

To step back and see how it all works is inspiring - whoever thought this all up and made it work in the way it does had some wild imagination.....

But to arrive at the entrance and only look at the big picture could, I imagine, cause panic. 

I've been talking to a number of friends recently about the challenges of life. It seems that as I and many of my friends approach one of the big ages, negotiating life has become more difficult. Choices are not as simple as they used to be and there are a number of mini roundabouts to contend with before we can get to the other side. 

Yet with hindsight, when we look back and see how we got to the other side we see the beauty of the dance of the magic roundabout. 

I'm yet again in the middle of a number of review processes - in my own church, in the Methodist circuit, at the end of my Newly Accredited period, in my own head, and sometimes the process can seem overwhelming. 

However, in mind of the bigger picture, if we take each mini roundabout at a time, the way ahead will become clear and open. And we'll get there, with God's help, the one who writes the road signs, we'll get there..... and when we stop to evaluate the big roundabout, the beauty of it all will be dazzling.

There's a time for everything, a season for every part of the roundabout

A time to stop and a time to go
A time to drive on and a time to pull back
A time to go round and a time to go over
A time to zoom out and a time to focus in
A time to panic and a time to dance
A time to try things out and a time to evaluate
A time to just get on with it and a time to just stand and watch
A time to shout GO ON THEN and a time to quietly nudge on
A time to love the moment and a time to approach in fear
A time to simply negotiate the roundabout in front.....
And a time to soar and see the beauty of the dance.

Making time, growing slowly, being still, waiting.

When Greg goes to meet his girlfriend's parents in 'Meet the Parents' he takes a gift - a pot full of dirt. When the parents open the present they are disappointed.... as you would be!

However, Greg tells them that the dirt contains one of the rarest seeds in the world and it will grow into a beautiful flower. I can't remember what it is,  I don't know whether it grew, but the potential was there if only they were prepared to wait, care for and nurture that potential for future beauty. 

When you plant a seed you can't see the roots growing under the surface, but you trust they are growing. You water the seed with the hope that they are growing but you don't know for sure if they are until the shoot begins to poke its way through.

As you wait the roots take their own path to reach the best nourishment and the best source of life so that the seed can bloom.

It's in those roots that the potential for growth begins to be realised. 

It's in those roots that a future becomes a possibility.

If you don't want to wait for the roots to establish you could stick in some cut flowers to make it look like its something, but without roots it will wilt and fade. 

Nothing beautiful and lasting will grow if roots are not given time and peace to establish. 

We can measure seasons and dream about when it might happen, but we don't know exactly when it will. 

We can look for the signs.

Watch and wait. 

Give time.

Give space.

Live wisely, plant deeply.

Be Still

Go Slow

Wait on God. 

"There is a time for everything, there's a time for everything that is done on earth". Ecclesiastes 3:1