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Thursday 23 January 2014

Season of Hibernation




One or two of the broom bushes on the drive have been pruned so hard it’s difficult to know whether or not they are even alive. They are nothing but twisted skeletons of bare branches looping and lacing round each other. 

Another few weeks, and it may be a different story. Hopefully there will be green shoots poking through the hard brown wood, promising new life.

We all have seasons in life when we need to pull in, like a tortoise pulls in its appendages, and hibernate. Perhaps we’ve been ill, or through a difficult time relationship-wise, or struggling with depression. 

Two images of living things taking a break from life. The broom bushes, and the tortoise. When conditions improve – when the air warms up and the sun pays us more than a passing glance – life should begin to stir again. 

Hibernation is a natural state, but it does render one more than usually vulnerable. My cousin’s tortoise failed to respond as winter gave way to spring one year, and they discovered it had been consumed totally – by rats, or a dog, or some other kind of predator. 

So make sure if you are hibernating, that you are in a safe place, protected and yet in a position to respond when conditions improve.

Best place I know to hibernate, is in the shadow of God’s wings.

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