I took this photograph last month, at the start of a walk, on a grey, cold miserable day caught betwixt winter and spring.
Huddled in layers under winter coat, with scarf, hat and gloves to keep out the cold, and feeling pretty miserable, I walked past the scene initially, the image registering visually but not cerebrally. A few yards further on, I had to stop and go back to capture the image that my mind had finally caught up with, which illuminated my heart as much as the garden.

The purple periwinkle flowers were so striking against the leafy cover, vibrant amidst the brown earth, mottled stone, and greyness of the drab day. The lack of any other bright colour in the landscape, seemed to accentuate their cheerfulness, sparking joy in my weary winter heart. The radiant blooms, audacious in their flowering amidst the dregs of winter, spoke to me of the wisdom of waiting and watching for the dormant unseen life, that often emerges bravely, quietly and confidently bursting forth at the right time, from the seemingly unproductive earth, the unseen incubator beneath my feet.

Like the periwinkle, tenacious in its hidden winter season yet quietly rooted and earthed in good soil, we too, are encouraged to wait, all the while rooted firmly in God’s good soil, so that when our spring begins, we too may blossom. When winter still feels present within our soul, and it feels like spring will never emerge, the encouragement is to wait on God, so that even in the harshest winter of the soul, our lives still bear witness to the provision of God in our lives.

When our spring does eventually come (and it will) then, like the periwinkle, we too, will bloom, vibrant amidst our surroundings, sentinels of the Saviour's love for his people.

As it says in the Message version of Matthew 5:14-16…

“You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. God is not a secret to be kept…”

Just as nature points us to the Creator, so too are we to illuminate the way for others, bearing witness and blessing them through the gifts we have been given., and the person we were created to be.

“Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God’s people, Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil.

So, God’s people, shout praise to God, Give thanks to our Holy God!

Psalm 97:11-12, The Message

Have you ever found yourself unsure of where you are going in life?

There you are, sailing along, with what you've done for years...quite happy with your career, business, and life in general and then, boom!

Something changes...

Maybe it's something major, like a health issue, a family crisis, bereavement, or redundancy. Or maybe, instead, it's some small niggle that gradually grows until you know that you are no longer on the right path...no longer skipping along purposefully, but ambling aimlessly until eventually you find yourself lost, limping listlessly through unfamiliar terrain.

This is where I have found myself over the last few months. It began last year with weariness, sensing that some of what I had been working on needed to end. After ignoring the feeling for a while, I eventually tackled the issue by no longer looking for work that involved travelling.

Instead, I took on a new, nearer to home, creative tutoring commitment and then recently withdrew from a long-standing commitment that has been such a privilege, but reached a point where it was time to move on.
All well and good, I hear you say… back on track!

But that isn’t how it feels...

It feels, right now, as if I’ve lost my way, not quite knowing where I’m going any more… both my life and business feel out of synch again. It feels as if I’m navigating uncertainly in the dark, and what I need is the navigational tools of starlight.

I’ve been here before, and I know it’s best not to rush into things, choosing any random route to sail, with the illusion of making progress. It’s far better, but so much harder, to wait…

What I need is the navigational tools of starlight; with a full moon to illuminate this unfamiliar, unsettled sea that has arrived stealthily and steadily to rock my boat and create uncertainty in the way ahead.

I don’t have any answers right now… except that I know I need to put down the anchor of hope to keep me from capsizing. That means anchoring myself firmly on the bedrock of God’s truth and God’s Word, trusting that he will see me through the seemingly uncertain way forward.

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Hebrews 6:19

It means looking up to the Lord of Light, who illuminates our life’s journey, not always providing the ease and clarity of daylight but just enough light for us to see the next small wave to ride as we travel by starlight with the Starmaker, Storm Stiller and Creator of our Universe.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Cor 13: 4-7

Love lighting the darkness like stars                                                                                  
through the inky black outlook, we did not choose.

Love navigating with us, the bleak landscapes of our lives
Holding hope in our hands, like a compass, when we have none.

Love cradling us kindly through the dregs of our down days,
Waiting patiently alongside our grey miserable melancholy.

Love beside us, shield through the shadowy sorrows of suffering
Humbly holding us from the deepest darkness of ourselves.

Love lingering alongside to catch us when we fall and fail again
Valuing the vulnerability of our human weakness.

Love lifting, carrying us through when we can no longer walk this weary way,
Not counting the cost nor the weight of the world on his shoulders

Love kneeling, binding the bruises & world-weary wounds to bring salve to the soul   
Cherishing the child, who is fearful and lost, longing for home.

Love singing through the shadows of sorrow to call us to himself
This is Love…

Like most people, I look forward to celebrations and parties, holidays and highlight occasions, and it’s tempting to start the year, striding seamlessly from the old to the new, barely pausing for breath…

But over the past few years I have come to appreciate the liminality of those few precious days between the holiday season and starting back to work, that enable me to press the pause button and prayerfully reflect on the year that has gone and the year to come.

What went well? What was I most proud of?
What was hard? What did I not enjoy?
Where in my life was God in the last year? Where would I like him to be this year?
How can I change things to create a better outcome this year?
What might need to stop to enable other things to happen? What might I begin?
How would I like to live my best life?

I spend a few days, deliberately easing myself into the New Year, as I ponder on the past, present and future. It makes me feel more prepared and intentional in my approach to a new beginning.

Returning from the Christmas break, with all its wonder and busy excitement but unfamiliar, often unpredictable days.. to the relative comfort and ease of unassuming ordinary and a greater degree of certainty and control over our days, I really enjoy embracing ordinary days, after a spell of special events. There’s something deeply reassuring about whatever is ordinary for you...it wraps itself around you, welcoming you into its safe familiarity … and it’s from that familiar place of regularity that you are able to function to create, work, give out, and live your extraordinary life.

Living ordinary lives is terribly underestimated, and in a world that promotes excitement and endless activity, ordinary is often side-lined as undesirable. From where I'm looking, right now, I would disagree...

The Joy of Ordinary Living

For a variety of reasons, many of us have lost the joy of living ordinary.

Living ordinary...in patterns of self-care, creating a home, caring for other people, honest work, simple leisure activities together with a rhythm of prayer and focus on God and an emphasis on community and hospitality seem
to me at this stage of my life, to be all that is needed right now.

For when we accept with grace, the often mundane aspects of our ordinary every day, workaday lives, and commit to them in an attitude of reflection and worship there is the potential to be transformed by them. Though it often doesn't feel like it, amidst the humdrum of the ordinary, God provides each of us with the daily potential for personal growth and transformation.

Benefits of Ordinary Living

Living ordinary, enables us to deal with the extraordinary when it comes along. Living ordinary gives us a groundedness, energy and gratefulness to enter into the difficult days when we are challenged with barriers to living
joyfully- the human struggles of illness, family crises, unemployment, financial difficulties, anxiety, bereavement...the list goes on...

Living topsy-turvy, precariously balanced for long periods of time, on the pinnacle of extraordinary, makes me ill...wired, weary, anxious. I'm feeling that it would be so much better to be more grounded in the solid basis of prayer, and the simplicity of ordinary days.

"So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it..."  The Message, Romans 12:2

So, this year I'm trying again to welcome in the ordinary ...allowing myself time for the pattern of ordinary to be imprinted onto my life, so I can draw upon strength gleaned from the rhythm of my ordinary days to
manage and cope with the extraordinary and difficult times ...

Happy New Year!