Baby Steps to Freedom

 

As Covid restrictions ease and, at least legally, end completely in Guernsey after February 17th, and in the UK a couple of weeks later, there will be some of us feeling a bit nervous. The two-year long battle against this unseen but potentially deadly foe has taken its toll on us all, whether we have had Covid or not. Some have lost loved ones whilst many have been shielding, afraid of going out. We are grateful for one of the best vaccination records in the world and for all the care and oversight of our medical and Public Health teams, but it feels strange to be coming out of this pandemic with hundreds of cases in our islands and lots of new ones being discovered each day.

Taking baby steps out of the pandemic is a challenge to our faith, our hope, and our love. Our faith because we must choose not to let fear dominate us in the aftermath of all we have been through. Our trust in God means that we need to heed the many ‘fear nots’ in the Bible (some say that there are 366 – one for every day of the year and one for a leap year) and choose to be grateful for the amazing grace that has seen us through thus far and will take us forwards. Faith in our dedicated public health and medical teams is also well founded given their track record. And hope, because ultimately our hope is in God, his faithfulness, and his promises. The opposite of hope is despair and no good ever came out of that, so we don’t want to go there. Keeping a positive and hopeful attitude can see us through the most appalling difficulties if we put our trust in God, so as we climb up the other side of this viral valley it is needed more than ever.

Love means that we recognise that not everybody is travelling out of this pandemic at the same speed. Some feel very unsure, vulnerable, and uncertain, while others are bruised by grief, financial hardship, and loss. We can help one another by respect and patience and by simple words of encouragement that can lift a heavy load. Faith, hope and love may be the three main virtues of the Christian faith, but they make good sense for people of all faiths or of none as we move into the uncharted waters of recovery from a devastating global pandemic.

The Time for Flowers

The time for flowers has come. Well - not quite because as I write on the 28th February 2018 there will not be a leap year day tomorrow. But on the 29th February exactly 50 years ago, Diane and I first met. We both attended a car treasure hunt being organised by her local church and Diane was in charge (when isn't she?? Only joking my love.. hmm). I looked at her and thought "Wow"! Then "I'll bet she's already taken" and with that thought gave up and focused on winning the game. Afterwards we were sitting in the coffee bar area when she came up to me and asked "would you like some more soup"? My answer was to shuffle up and make room for her to sit down and we had our first chat. Half a century later we are still chatting.

We both feel that we found the treasure that day. When folk talk about love at first sight it hardly seems real. It is, in fact, quite rare, but the idea is both alluring and romantic. That was our experience, though, and we have been 'Eric and Diane' ever since. Now our desire is to do life together right up until we walk through heaven's gate hand in hand. To know and love one other person as deeply for as long is a great privilege, and one that we do not take for granted. Diane has sat beside what she thought would be my death-bed more than once, and we have said our final farewells to each other more times than we would have ever wanted, but God has been good to us and spared us so that we can rejoice in this day.

I have recently started keeping a 'gratitude diary' in which I write briefly down things for which I am thankful every day. It helps me to stay focused on positive things when weakness or problems might distract. Today I have plenty to write down. I hope you would have too. If you have not been blessed with the sort of relationship that I have described above please don't be too disheartened. We are all individuals and are all different, but God is still good and has good plans for our lives. Maybe there are still things that, despite the winter cold, you can join me in rejoicing about today? It may be cold and dark outside, but the time for flowers is also here.

Love is... taking time to say it!

I came across this piece of writing this week and it reminded me of the times when I have found myself facing major surgery in the past, and even in the desperate situation of being seriously ill and facing my own mortality, realising that the moments we have with our loved ones are so special.  It's a shame that we waste so many opportunities to actually say how we feel. After all, communication is a really important part of keeping love alive through all the negative stuff that life can throw against us. I hope you find this helpful - and challenging too!


"If I knew it would be the last time that I'd see you fall asleep, I 

would tuck you in more tightly, and pray the Lord your soul to
keep.

If I knew it would be the last time that I saw you walk out the
door, I would give you a hug and kiss, and call you back for one
more.

If I knew it would be the last time I'd hear your voice lifted up in
praise, I would videotape each word, so I could play them back day
after day.

If I knew it would be the last time, I could spare an extra minute
or two to stop and say "I love you", instead of assuming you would
KNOW I do.

If I knew it would be the last time I would be there to share your
day, well I'm sure you'll have so many more, so I can let just this one
slip away.

For surely there's always tomorrow to make up for an oversight,
and we always get a second chance to make everything right.

There will always be another day to say our "I love you's", and
certainly there's another chance to say our "Anything I can do?"

But just in case I might be wrong, and today is alii get, I'd like to
say how much I love you and I hope we never forget.

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, young or old alike. And
today may be the last chance you get to hold your loved one tight ...

So if you're waiting for tomorrow, why not do it today?

For if tomorrow never comes, you'll surely regret the day, that
you didn't take that extra time for a smile, a hug, or a kiss, and you
were too busy to grant someone what turned out to be their one
last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today, whisper in their ear, tell
them how much you love them and that you'll always hold them
dear.

Take time to say "I'm sorry", "please forgive me", "thank you" or
"it's okay". And if tomorrow never comes, you'll have no regrets
about today. 

Second Chance Scenario

My mind was clawing its way slowly back to clarity.  I knew that I was in hospital and that I was desperately ill.  It was February, a few years ago, and I had been to the brink.  Among my early conscious moments after a long period of deep coma I heard two nurses talking.  They were asking each other if either of them had received any Valentine Day cards.  Gradually I caught on, and realised that I had missed this annual opportunity to tell Diane how much she means to me.  I do tell her that every day, of course, but weeks of hospitalisation had robbed us of the daily hugs and reassurance that are part of the paintwork of our marriage.  So I dreamed up a solution.  When my friend Bob came to see me I asked him to buy a rose for Diane and send it to her as if it had come from me.  The only problem was that I couldn't speak.  I tried to write down my instructions and thought I had done so clearly, but years later he showed me the card on which I had scrawled a meaningless array of scratches and lines.  But, he twigged it and realised what I was asking him to do for me.

When Diane received a single red rose later that day she was moved to tears.  I had hardly spoken to her for weeks and was still lying in ICU full of wires and monitors.  'To my darling Diane, from your loving husband' my friend Bob had written.  Through her tears and sobs, she tells me, my wife began to hope that I might come back again from the valley of the shadow of death.  And I did.  God was so gracious to us.  He gave us back to one another  and allowed us to share again in a relationship that has been so special since the very first day we saw one another, February 29th 1968 - leap year day.

So - you can imagine how special Valentine's Day is to us each year.  A simple single red rose tells us both that we serve the God of the Second Chance!  Each year we look at that little flower and remember the One who says 'I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten!'  This year more than ever, we are so grateful for that understanding.