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Dear Friends, Summer has arrived and with it has come – yes, the rain. People must have been chanting ‘rain, rain go away, come again another day’ for the past 10 years and here it is, the ‘other day’ has come. The flaw in that argument being that we haven’t had a really good summer for some time now. Nevertheless I have noticed a strange phenomenon this year. We all like to have a good moan about the weather whatever it’s doing – too hot, too cold, too windy etc. But this year I have noticed people saying quite cheerily – ‘It’s not raining just now’ in a five minute break between downpours. Perhaps we are learning to be thankful for the small crumbs of comfort our climate throws at us. It seems to me there is a parallel to be drawn here with our attitude to life in general. We seem to expect so much more from life than did our ancestors. It’s as if we had a right to good health; long life; large well-furnished houses; well paid, fulfilling jobs; perfect marriages and friendships and children to be proud of. If life delivers less than this we complain bitterly. Yet the vast majority of people in the world do have so much less and often put us to shame by their appreciation of small blessings. I dare say those facing drought would love our present weather. The trouble is this argument always reminds me of telling children to eat up some particularly obnoxious food (well obnoxious to them anyway) because others are starving. The usual response is – well send it to them then. Our appreciation of life has to stem from more than just the knowledge that others have a much worse life. It has to come from a genuine appreciation from within of the good things that come our way, often amongst the not so good. I have no idea what Jesus’ health was like but that apart the other trappings of the good life didn’t come his way. Yet he was more alive than anyone has ever been – indeed he came to give us life – real life. People who can rise above their circumstances and remain positive have a spiritual depth to their characters. With this in mind I wish you an enjoyable and enriching summer, whatever the weather. Though I do hope, if I’m honest, that by the time you read this, the sun will be shining. Janice |