16th May 2022

What a contrast! I watch the television news: grim and grey, full of danger and suffering, flattened streets and skeleton blocks of flats. I picture the people who lived there, happy and secure, now dead, wounded, scattered. I want to scream out against the wanton, deliberate cruelty, all so unnecessary. I look outside: blue sky, sunshine, springtime. I remember spring in North Devon: banks of primroses, copses of wild daffodils, hedgerows bursting with luxuriant new life. Even here in Redland more trees burst into leaf each day, lilac and cherry blossom abounds in gardens, the weeping willow tosses its newly tasselled branches and the blackbird sings from his high perch.

So we have to ask ‘where is God in all this?’ Surely He’s dancing in the spring meadows, enjoying the renewal and new life? . . . Yes! But He is just as much down there in the mud, rescuing the wounded, comforting the dying, bringing consolation to the bereaved. All people He cares for. He’s giving strength and endurance, pity and caring to the rescuers. Praise You, Lord, You are in both places: where it hurts, where people scream out in terror, just as much as in springtime beauty.

Thankyou, Lord, for bringing springtime each year . . . and thankyou for filling our hearts with Your compassion. So we will try to be present with You wherever You are, in our prayers and in our praises.

Lesley Fuller