By Jeannie Kendall —
Like most of the Godspace writers, I suspect, I always await the new themes with interest. Is this one that particularly interests me, or will it need a little more thought or imagination? Have I something to contribute?
For the first time ever, the new theme, Starting the 2020s on the Right Foot, made me laugh out loud. It might seem a curious reaction. However, this month I am due an operation on my left foot, so for some weeks the right foot will be the only useable one I will possess! Hence my amusement.
Not that the prospect is a happy one. I am a do-er, and so a period of forced inactivity will most certainly be a significant challenge. It also coincides with the change of the seasons here in the UK, as winter turns to spring and I would normally continue the ongoing – and near impossible – task of taming the garden here – literally an uphill task as we are on a steep slope. To lie with my foot elevated when I could be outside cutting back dead growth and starting to battle the weeds with be very frustrating.
Some while ago I read something about the emergence of butterflies. The writer suggested that the confinement and restriction of the cocoon was necessary, and that in the same way, the limitations of our lives might be the key to something beautiful emerging. Those constraints might be temporary –such as the care of pre-school children or my approaching operation. Or they might be longer term, which is of course much more difficult. At such times we are called, I suspect, to hold on to hope, to trust that God can bring something out of that very confinement which he could not have done if life were smoother, even though, and perhaps especially because, he weeps with us. It is always his speciality to take the broken pieces of our lives and make the most beautiful stained glass window through which his light can shine.