Belt and braces

 

Sweet peas all in now – the ones I couldn’t find room for have gone to Mary, my neighbour.

I was late getting them in, so although they looked healthy, they were long and leggy and twisted round each other, and the roots were just as tangled. Desperate to get out of their wee pots and into the wide open space of the garden … though they will probably take a few days to recover from the shock of the transplant. I had to break some of the peas’ tough and sinewy threads which wind round and round any apparent support and cling tenaciously, whether it’s an actual support or just another weak sweet pea, or even just a stray bit of string or fibre.

Maybe many of us are feeling a little like those sweet peas. We have been ‘locked down’ on and off, to greater and lesser degrees, for two years. We’ve stretched and grown in ways we may not yet even recognise: for one thing, we may have a truer picture of our own limitations than we had before. But maybe we’ve been leaning on a friend or family member, an on-line preacher or favourite author. We’re counting on other weak ones to support us. Those dependencies need to be broken off. Lean in to God, who is our refuge and strength and our real support. Our roots have been contained … constrained but cosy. Safe. It's time to stretch them out, to sink them deep into our Lord once again and receive his nurture so that we grow. So that we grow, bud, blossom, and bear fruit.

‘God is striding ahead of you,’ The Message interprets Deuteronomy 31:8. ‘He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.’

I feel good. I trust that Covid, if not totally eradicated, is definitely on the way out of my body. I feel ready and eager to release the fragrance of our sweet Jesus again, ready to fully embrace life, life in all its fullness. Leaning into God, who is my shepherd, I have a heightened awareness of my own weakness and dependency now. Deep-rooted in Him, I’ll twine myself round him as well. Belt and braces.