Lights

I’ve never been much of a gardener. I like a nice garden, but I want someone else to make it look nice. I don’t really ever plant anything. I mostly let whatever is already there grow. I have no finesse in a garden. I used to worry that if I cut plants the wrong way when I was trying to prune them, I would kill them. That turned out not to be true. So now I’m much more brave. My favourite kind of gardening is cutting the hedge, of cutting the grass. You don’t really need any finesse for that. One day I’ll buy myself an axe with a wooden handle and find things to chop! Is that even gardening? Probably not. But it will be fun. I don’t mean to disappoint all you gardeners out there. Its just not my thing. But we recently added something to the garden that I do really like. That sounds like I don’t like the garden. That’s not true. It’s the gardening I don’t like! So when we found something that you don’t need to prune or water, I was interested straight away. It’s better than that even. Not only do you not have to prune or water this garden piece, you don’t have to do anything. We now have solar lights in our garden! They’re great. They sit in among the pot plants demanding absolutely nothing of us. But when it’s dark they shine a beautiful light right where we sit. And that’s the thing. They shine a beautiful light in the growing darkness. We’ve been in lockdown now for over four months in one form or another. There have, no doubt, been some good things during that time. Perhaps we’ve spent more time with family. Perhaps we’ve been able to do some of the things we keep saying we’ll do but never quite get around to. There have also been some really tough times. Really tough times. We’ve lost jobs. We’ve lost important events we’d long planned: weddings; one off family holidays. We’ve lost meeting with those we love, with friends. And we’ve lost loved ones. It’s been tough. Really tough. My garden could be described as a bit of a mess. In one way it looks fine, but if you look closely….Please don’t! And this lockdown is a bit of a mess. It’s full of tings we’d rather not have seen or experienced. But as in my garden, there are lights in the drake=ness of lockdown. Sometimes it’s a call from a friend. Or a cup of tea together, Or a weekly envelope of goodies from those who care. Or being able to meet with those we haven’t seen for a while. These lights shine in the darkness. They give us a little more strength to keep going. To keep hoping. When I look at the solar lights as they begin to shine in the gathering dusk, I am reminded that there is another light that shines in the darkness. Turns out even solar lights require a battery! There is another light that shines in the darkness and the darkness can never put it out! And, just as my solar lights appear to shine more brightly the darker it becomes, so God’s light shines however dark the darkness appears. And he loves to shine his light on me. Especially when the darkness gathers around me.