SUNDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2022

2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2 & Luke 9:28-36

​If I were to list the seasons in order from my favourite to my least favourite, I hate to admit it, but winter would be firmly placed at the bottom of my list. I desperately try to see the beauty in it, but being of tropical South African blood, it is the length of winter that really starts to wear me down. Thankfully, the now lengthening days and the feel of the sun that is sometimes starting to feel warm, energises me, as I am sure it does for many others. However, after a long winter and the desire to feel cosy, life can often have a bit of a cluttered feel to it – the term ‘spring clean’ will ring true to many of us – physically, or as we will focus on during the upcoming season of Lent, spiritually as well.
 
If you have ever done some scratch art, you would have seen a card covered in a matte blackness or darkness. If a little stick hadn’t been provided for the scratching, you may have been in danger of missing the glorious bright colours hidden underneath. This could be similar to the way that the three disciples could well have been in danger of missing the glory of the revealing of Jesus in his true form at the transfiguration due to their very human nature of being exhausted. The vast majority of us will never have a religious experience that would even come close to the experience the disciples had on the mountain with Jesus, but we need to be careful that we are not weighed down with so much ‘rubbish’ in our lives that we are in danger of missing the very real miracles that we see around us.
 
Adults will often say how they envy children and the wisdom in which they approach the world around them. Anyone who has ever gone on a nature walk with a toddler will know that it takes at least double the time, as toddlers will stop to wonder at things that I know I certainly would miss. We can often be so bogged down with LIFE that we miss the signs of God at work in our world and it is only through making a conscious effort that we are able to pick up on the signs of God’s glory in our lives. Coincidently, this happens to be one of the themes of the book ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ that will be explored in our church book club during lent this year.
 
Maybe we can all use this opportunity that Lent will provide to really scratch away at the darkness that keeps our eyes shut to the miracles of God, doing a ‘soul spring clean’, revealing and revelling in the beauty of the world around us, maybe trying to see and focus on at least one little miracle that we notice each day, that could be the first daffodil in bloom or the giggle of a baby, anything that allows us to not only see the light of Christ in our lives and in the lives of others, but to reflect his light into the world through our actions.   Amen.

Robyn Connelly, Children and Families