I always enjoy experiencing the changing seasons and feel I would become bored if I lived permanently near the equator. This summer I appreciated the settled hot sunny days, being able to put the washing outside and be sure it would dry in a couple of hours. I did, however, find the really high temperatures a bit of a trial. I remember thinking how good it would be to feel cool air around me. I even began to feel nostalgic for rain, as the ground became dry and the lawn brown.
We have had plenty of rain and cooler air recently and the novelty is fading but I now look forward to sparkling, sunny, frosty days and a pristine white, covering of snow over the garden. Even dark, cloudy, windy days can be exhilarating sometimes.
I remember some years ago being at a Christian meeting when we were asked to look at a picture of a football match and to reflect on where we would place ourselves in the image if it represented the Christian life, – a spectator, a coach, a referee, a forward or perhaps someone not even in the vicinity!
I think I would see myself in different roles in the picture at different times of my life. It was a straightforward activity but it has stayed with me over the years.
One of the Readings in church recently was from Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Paul uses the image of a race to summarise his experience of faith.
“As for me, the hour has come for me to be sacrificed, the time is here for me to leave this life. I have done my best in the race, I have run the full distance and I have kept the faith. And now there is waiting for me the victory prize of bring put right with God….” (2 Timothy 4: 6 – 8a)