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Thursday 31 October 2013

Apples Galore



The season of dealing with fruit and veg from the garden is drawing to a close. We are digging carrots as we need them, hoping there won’t be any early frosts, pulling in the last of the runner beans and ... of course ... dealing with apples galore.

Not that I’m complaining. But yesterday I made yet another apple crumble for the freezer, and four jars of apple butter – which actually took more time than I’d remembered. I’m about to hit the kitchen again for another session, this time of an apple tray bake for a talk on Caring for Creation tonight – kind of a suitable accompaniment. 

Our lives, too, go in seasons. Seasons of good and plenty; seasons of hardship and little. It’s hard to imagine oneself in one season when the other is overwhelming us. 

The Bible talks about the seasons of life, in Ecclesiastes where Solomon declares that there is a season for every activity under the sun. “... a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

Whew. Pretty exhaustive list, and not all of it something I want to embrace, that’s for sure. But maybe it’s a description of the way life is, rather than a recipe for what it should be. Because God is a good God who loves to shower his children with good gifts, and it breaks his heart when our hearts are broken.

May this be a day of healing, dancing and loving, for you, for me, and for all those who suffer in some of the unspeakable calamities of our time.

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