School’s out this week, and it seems the rhythm of our childhoods still rings in our bones. The thought of summer vacation starting later this week is energizing.
It’s been a busy year, perhaps the first regular year of activities post-Covid – whether those activities be with Scouts or Guides, an art class, or youth sports such as minor hockey or soccer. Whatever it was, it created a routine since last fall and it was wonderful to feel the rhythm of practices, classes and camps.
In the middle of it all – literally, during Family Day weekend, the mid-winter weekend the Ontario government created as a break in the midst of the dreary stretch between Christmas and March Break – St. Andrew’s was hit by fire. We continue to work through our grief and look for God’s guidance. As we journeyed through Lent, we journeyed without access to our home and without our regular fellowship time. It felt very dark.
The promise in Isaiah 43 is ours for the claiming: “”Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”
We were indeed spared. Our dross was consumed and our gold – our faith – refined. At times it isn’t easy to see God’s plan, but step by step, we go forward on our journey with each other and with our neighbours, and central to all this, our Lord in His unfailing love.
There is a time for everything, as Ecclesiastes 3 reads; let’s read it again.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
All these things, good and bad, are part and parcel of the human journey. We take them to God in prayer, as we honestly express our frustrations and our joys.
May your see God’s goodness and walk closer with the Divine on the lake’s shore, on your walk along the abandoned rail trail or on your back deck as you watch the sun set.