Love Wins!

It's only the second week of February but the early signs of Spring are all around us here in Guernsey. Bulbs which have been hiding under the dark cold ground for months are starting to bring colour, vibrancy and hope to our wind blasted gardens and hedgerows. These early signs of Spring are really heartening, giving us the sense that better days lie ahead. The cold dark season we are in will not last for ever. The seeds of renewal may lie hidden, but their power to break through is irresistible. 

It's important to have hope in the darkness, expectation instead of dread, and a sense that the future God has planned for us will be so much better than the barren winter barely passing. In our wider world there is such sadness. As I write, the death of a prominent Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, has shocked and saddened the western world. Images of his bereaved wife and children add to the sense of profound sorrow being felt by millions. There is a cold, barren emptiness in a large swathe of Eastern Europe as the war in Ukraine rages on, and lives are being lost in the battle against tyranny. Elsewhere, in Israel and Gaza there is such huge sadness as we witness the wanton death and destruction being wrought and their impact on ordinary men, women and children on both sides. Can there be any bulbs of hope beneath this dreadful soil?

As Christians, our hope is in God. He is not finished with us yet and is working out his plan in these end-times through all the earth, whether in East or West. There may be times in our lives when we fear that our cause is futile, our case hopeless. I felt that over the long years of my chronic illness. Sometimes it just feels like the weight and fire-power of our enemy is overwhelming. The price of hanging on and persevering can seem too high. Don’t give up! God is on our side. The enemy of our souls may gloat over temporary or even long-term advances against us, but the end of the story is clear. Love wins, God wins, goodness triumphs over evil! Hang in there!