Greetings,
I’m not sure how you celebrated the Queen’s Birthday holiday on Monday … maybe searching the Honours List or sitting back with a cuppa reading a good book or watching a favourite program. As Tony had the day off we decided to have a family drive into the Dandenong Ranges (of course only travelling within our allowed 25km). It’s an area we like to visit and we have spent lots of time there in the past enjoying picnics and bushwalks.
This trip was a bit different and we had to take alternate routes more than once as police had closed roads where the after storm clean-up was continuing. We made it to our destination but we ended up taking a different route than we had planned … and this trip got me thinking about a couple of things.
While it is easy to have a destination in mind, sometimes the path to get to it isn’t as straightforward as we first imagine. Yet even though the paths can twist and turn, there is a lot you can see on the way that would be missed if you travelled by the shortest route. There are also moments of clarity which sharpen thoughts and add to life experience, as well as unexpected moments of beauty.
When you saw the size of the trees still down, and those precariously clinging to the soil that had been eroded by the rain, you got a sense of just how ferocious the storm was in that area. The story has emerged of a mother and her child who were trapped separately when their home was hit by a falling tree. While they couldn’t get to one another, they talked to each other, the mother assuring her son and speaking calm into the situation.
In this gospel story for this Sunday Jesus and his companions find themselves in the middle of a storm. While all is raging around them Jesus’ speaks and his voice brings calm, both to the wind and waves and to his companions.
May we rest in the knowledge that whatever storms beset us we are not alone in facing them. We have a God who loves us and is always with us … through moments of sunshine and storm in our lives.
Blessings – Heather.