I sometimes take a long time to make up my mind about things especially when I am unsure of what I am about!  However this last summer I determined that my garden really needed a makeover.  Apparently certain plants such as nettles were not an acceptable garden plant!  And I had plenty of them.

Fortunately I was put in touch with a really good gardener who not only sorted the garden but is also undertaking to teach me a bit, no considerably more, about looking after the garden.

But what to do now?  Today it looks quite bare in the borders, although back in the Autumn I planted many bulbs.  So my first lesson is to learn patience.  I have done what I can, prepared the soil, and planted at the correct depth.  It couldn’t have been a worst first winter with the snow and cold so I guess now is a waiting time, though every few days I take a little tour around just to see if something is happening!  Of course what I am hoping for, and looking forward to, is a glorious riot of colour in the spring and a celebration that I have been successful in my venture into proper gardening.

There are many moments in our lives where patience is required.  It seems that so much of today’s culture is one of instant gratification.  We all rush round from one thing to another, getting to work, getting home, getting to meetings, getting meals, getting, getting……….. most people find their lives on a treadmill it seems.  There is no time ‘to stand and stare’.

And what we experience in our daily lives could also be true of our spiritual lives.  We have to ask the question is rushing around getting us anywhere?  Is doing the only way forward?  There is no doubt in my mind and in the letter of James that our faith must be carried forth into our daily lives.  For just as works without faith is regarded as not being the fullness of our capacities so faith without works can become an internal, private matter with no relevance to our world.  Of course there is always a balance and I know of a number of people who would not describe themselves as religious who never the less are highly regarded in the community for their contributions to the welfare of others.  And I for one highly regard those members of the religious who live their lives in contemplative prayer.  But what of ourselves?  Where do we strike the balance between being people of faith and doers of ‘good works’?

As Church, believers are required, to ground themselves in the life of Jesus.

As individuals do we commit ourselves to a life which reflects his life, a life of worship, a life of prayer and praise.  We grow ourselves through this commitment and together we grow our community of believers.  We become a family, we worship together, we sing praises, we pray together, we may study together, and as in the best of families we support and care for each other especially in difficult times, and we also have times of celebration and joy.  Although we are individuals, rich in the diversity our talents and skills we are entwined in each other’s lives to become one community.   And reading our newsletters and looking around us we can see many activities that enhance our lives together, from lunches to concerts.  And through both ordained and lay ministry, in its widest form, people reach out into the community to bring the presence of God into lives that may be under distress, though we mustn’t forget the joys of meeting parents and children on baptism visits!  All these activities and more, are witness to the incarnated God, for in Jesus we see the face of God not at a distance, but walking and working among the people.

But although Lent is late this year it is a reminder that we need more than activity in our spiritual life.  It is a time of waiting and of being patience, a time for listening for that still small voice, a time to step back from the world. A time perhaps to renew our times of prayer and reading and of finding that place of  quietness in order to reflect on the life of Jesus, that is our strength and our guide in our life, and to accompany him on his journey to Calvary and to the glory of the resurrection.

Enid Magdalen