Zetland Park Methodist Church Pastoral Letters
March 2012
"What next", "where now", "why me"
After all the wind and bad weather we have had in recent weeks, I started tidying up the garden this morning. Branches which had fallen from the trees in the wind littered the grass, dead (and now rotting) leaves filled every nook and cranny, along all the edges of the lawn and around the base of every bush and shrub. Alas, some of the shrubs we had brought with us but which had never made it into the ground from the pots they travelled in had not survived the harsh frosts getting to their roots, but there was no point crying over these - that wouldn't bring them back to life! With the back of the car soon filled with the collected debris ready to go to the tip I began to notice spring bulbs beginning to emerge from the ground from where the leaves had been gathered and new shoots just breaking on bushes and shrubs - Spring is on its way as new growth emerges from the debris of autumn and winter - new hope as nature continues its endless cycle!
Few people escape from disappointments and failures of one sort or another in life, and at the time life can seem so bleak and lacking in hope. "What next", "where now", "why me" are questions which can fill our minds, making life seem even gloomier. At times like this it is so easy to try to blame others or else feel we have somehow failed, or else feel there is no point in going on.
Lent is a good time to sweep away the debris of the past and look for new growth and signs of hope in our lives. Sometimes we also need to admit that a past part of our lives is now gone forever, but find the hope and faith to go on, to look for new opportunities and options. Like nature, there is a cycle of decline and new growth in our lives, and next month we will be celebrating the ultimate new hope, but in what remains of Lent let us do the "spring cleaning" which allows is to move on in hope and faith and trust.