Sunday 31st May - T-shirt weather

 It is hard to think back as far as January, the unrelenting grip of cold dreich weather, the greyness, 

how I was hunched against the unforgiving wind when we ventured out,

the way I reached for an extra fleece beneath my coat, and my scarf, and gloves,

wore padded winter trousers, thick socks, layered on a poncho, wrapped myself up in a blanket in the evenings,

added an extra quilt to the bed at night...

It's not like that now!

Ecclesiastes Chapter 3;

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

 

Things change; and not only the weather or the time of day or the seasons.

One of the most helpful pieces of advice I received was from a much, much older lady when we were side by side in the recovery ward in hospital after our minor ops. I'd had a very, very minor repair to my nether regions under local anaesthetic after the birth of my first baby a few days previously, and was feeling tender and tearful and very, very tired. She was sweet, encouraging, congratulating me on being a new mother, and very understanding.

'You know,' she said. 'You might get to the point where it is all to much and you can't bear it for another day, but it will change. Maybe not exactly for the better, but it will be different, and that will be enough.'

That advice carried through many a gritty time - teething and potty training come to mind, but not just the trials of motherhood, but also grim days of teaching recalcitrant school children, and difficult times when I hated my job so much I  would sit on the stairs and cry on Sunday nights, and days when I was unwell...

To everything there is a season. I've learned to hang in there... it was too cold in January, and it's too hot at the moment, but things are already changing; who knows but it might even rain soon?!

Here's Joshua Bell playing 'Winter' from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi