Revel in the Sunny Days

There’s something special about a crisp, winter’s day. The type that bursts through your window in the morning in all its brightness: when sunshine clamours at the closed curtains, demanding to be noticed and appreciated. When there are blue skies for miles around and fresh, cold air that buries itself deep into your lungs. On days like this, the world seems to temporarily wake up from the grey fog of winter. The heady slumber that seems to cover us at this time of the year is temporarily lifted and our eyes are opened once again to the beauty of the outside world.

In moments like this, it’s easy to give thanks; to wonder at the beauty of creation around us and bask in the strong rays of sun pouring down onto us. Unsurprisingly, it’s easier to count our blessings, to love and feel loved in return, to see the positives in each and every situation in this sunny context. Because everything looks more beautiful when the sun is shining. The very essence of God seems more tangible. It’s undoubtedly easier to present a happy, sunny countenance when the weather outside is echoing this sentiment. 

However, the beauty of a winter’s day such as today is in its short-lived nature. The likelihood is that, when tomorrow comes, we will be met with a cloudy, grey scene once again. Not because I am being pessimistic, but because it is winter and the cyclic nature of our seasons demands it. 

So, the challenge is this. Revel in the sunny days, wonder at the beauty around you and allow yourself to stop and catch your breath in the good times. 

Capture it.

Remember it.

Hold on to it.

  

Tomorrow might be a grey and gloomy day, but – if you look close enough – the beauty is still there. You may need to squint your eyes a bit to see it through the rain, but there is always something to be thankful for, even when it feels like it’ll be winter forever. 

And the good news? More sunny days are just around the corner. Not because I’m being unrealistically optimistic, but because it is winter and the cyclic nature of our seasons demands it.

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

(Matt Redman – Blessed be Your Name)

Be still

Propped up on my bed on a lazy Sunday afternoon, watching the sun set beyond the allotments at the back of our house, I can completely relate with the phrase ‘the calm before the storm’.  In this cosy moment of contentedness and quiet, I am acutely aware that I am effectively standing at the bottom of what is proving to be a pretty hefty mountain looming before me: what I refer to as a ‘big week’. I’m sure we all have ‘big weeks’, though I am always surprised at the way in which ‘busyness’ seems to accumulate in a small space of time. The important dates in my diary somehow always manage to bunch up together in a wave effect, not dissimilar to the traffic on the M25 (chunks of heavy, standstill traffic which suddenly, incomprehensibly clears into an empty motorway). There are days, weeks even, of free and easy breezing, followed by a short sharp burst of frenzied activity, which knocks the air out of your lungs and leaves you feeling exhausted at the end of it.

It seems to be the nature of our society that busyness and activity are signs of a purposeful person. Someone who clearly knows what they want from life and who squeezes the juices from it with gusto. I’m always amazed by the amount that people pack into 24 hour periods, measuring myself and my ‘productivity’ against theirs and often finding myself to fall short in comparison. Because a busy person is a successful one, right? A jam-packed diary must equate to a fulfilled and happy life…

But, what if it doesn’t?

What if we put the emphasis in a different place? I believe the fullness of my life is measured not by the quantity of activity that I manage to pack in to my diary, but rather by the time I take to be still. To stop and breathe.  It’s in these moments of stillness that my heart becomes one of gratitude and thankfulness, because  I appreciate what I have now. I stop searching for something more, stop trying to better myself in every aspect of my life, but instead appreciate the blessings that are poured generously into my life on a daily basis.

Yes, this week is going to be a busy one. Yes, I feel as though am gearing myself up for a marathon seven days. BUT, I choose to find the moments of still and quiet amidst the activity. To always remember to have a thankful heart, acknowledging what I have and not what I ‘have not’. I choose this, because He told me to: 

“Be still and know that I am God. I will be honoured by every nation. I will be honoured throughout the world” (Psalm 46:10)

I don’t know what sort of week lies before you, but I fervently pray that you will find satisfaction in the times of stillness and quiet. That you will recognise that He delights in you. For a couple of moments stop searching; stop pursuing. Appreciate what you have and just be.

Talitha Koum - Rise Up Little Girl

It’s funny how some things in life stick with you. It might be a passing comment made by a friend, a Bible passage or line that you read which particularly resonates with your situation, a particularly thought-provoking podcast, newspaper article or ‘tweet’. Often, what you remember as being particularly profound was in actual fact a short snippet of a bigger picture: a snapshot of a whole and yet an Epiphany Moment for you in that stage in your life. 

My Epiphany Moment happened in a Butlins marquee in Minehead. In fact, to call it a marquee would be too generous. It was, all pretence aside, a large tent and a pretty unstable one at that. This oversized  tepee was the destination of a Women’s Seminar - part of the Christian festival, Spring Harvest. Mum and I had turned up in the hope for some empowering, inspirational Woman-to-Woman teaching – the sort that sets you up to go out and ‘spread the Word’ enthusiastically. Despite my best intentions, I would be lying if I said I paid attention for the entirety of the two hour session. In actual fact, I spent a large amount of time locating the nearest exits as the flimsy canvas walls flapped dramatically in the wind and the tent creaked and groaned against the adverse coastal weather conditions. 

Luckily the speaker was a determined sort and, regardless of the less than ideal surroundings, she continued her talk, at a slightly higher decibel, valiantly ignoring the developing hurricane swirling ferociously around our abode.

It was in a 10 minute break from planning my emergency exit that I heard a profound and potentially life changing message. 

Talitha Koum.

It means ‘Rise up Little Girl’.

The speaker explained it in the context of the biblical passage in which it features. Jesus commands Jairus’s dead daughter to get up… and, in short, she does (Mark 5:41 – give it a read). It’s remarkable, miraculous stuff. An awesome story of healing. But it wasn’t the story itself that hit me. It was the message which followed. A practical message which speaks powerfully into my own life in the 21^st Century…

Rise Up Little Girl. 

Stand tall and step confidently into the future plans I have for you. Don’t settle for a grey, meaningless life, but grab the opportunities provided by each and every day with joy and thanksgiving. Live your life in technicolour. Look around you at the beauty of the World. Search for the beauty within people. Love others and serve them unreservedly. Be blessed and bless others in return.

The wind of life will howl menacingly around you. Much of the time you will feel out of control. BUT stand firm. Stay anchored. Live a life worthy of the Lord.

Changing Attitudes

Well, it's that time of the year again. Christmas trees are being disassembled and wrestled out the house, with valiant, but vain attempts to prevent the inevitable flurry of pin leaves onto the newly-bought cream carpet. Baubles, once displayed in all their glory, are wrapped up in a depressing bundle of toilet paper packaging and the knitted nativity scene is carefully tucked into a paper bag until next year. The fairy lights are hastily shoved into a plastic bag after the fight with the under-sized box they arrived in was lost and the enormous knot, which was discreetly hidden at the back of the tree, is ignored until the next time, when a mood of festivity and cheer will no doubt provide a more fitting environment to combat the monstrous tangle of green wire and miniature bulbs.

I always find January a bittersweet month. One of two halves. Yes, it marks the arrival of a new year and ' a new start' - (in other words, another chance to reintroduce last year's resolutions to see if this time you'll do better at keeping to them!). It brings with it a new hope, untapped potential and a host of unknown opportunities to explore. On the other hand, it also brings in Winter with a vengeance. It is heralded with dark, cold mornings of scraping frost off the car in order to get to work. Numb fingers. Numb toes. Driving to work in the dark... driving home from work in the dark. Pale faces and sniffly noses.

As the holiday draws to a close and the work emails are switched back on, it is easy to become wistful of the season just gone - one of festive cheer and goodwill to all... an attitude which quickly fades as grey, mundane reality kicks in. It's easy to adopt an attitude of bad-temper, of complaining and negativity as the alarm sounds at 6am and we trudge off to work again.

This year, I challenge myself (and you!) to reject the 'January blues'. To greet each and every day with the reverence and thankfulness that it deserves. To notice the little things. The little miracles which greet us every day.

Notice the stunning, entirely unique patterns which the frost creates on the windscreen of your car before you scrape it off.

As you drive to/from work in the dark, notice the sunrise/set majestically over the horizon - and the array of colours splashed across the sky.

Notice the smile of the child in your class asking for help, instead of their sniffly nose.

This year, I choose to count my blessings... even on a dark, rainy and stressful day which is demanding all of my energy. Because, I believe that when you look for the good, you will find it. And in seeking God's touch on the world, you will be blown away by his goodness, mercy and graciousness towards you. 

 'Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world'.

Sarah Ban Breathnach