Thought for the Week
Spring is in the air; there are pink and white cherry blossoms and new leaves everywhere, dead looking twigs have suddenly become green.
The next time when your off to work, school or going shopping, spare a few moments and see the signs of new life beginning; see how much is changing around you and how much new growth there is.
Spring is a time when we begin to feel happier in ourselves, winter is gone and we look forward to a summer with long days and short nights and hopefully lots of sunshine.
However new life is vulnerable; at this early time of the year the new life of buds, small leaves and the blossoms on the trees and bushes can easily be wiped away by rubbing a thumb or finger over them. Therefore it’s important that we give time for new things to develop and grow.
New things in nature are always small, a puppy or a kitten is tiny when first born even a new baby elephant is quite small, so it is the same with a human baby. It’s possible to hold a new-born baby in the crook of your arm; they are so small and vulnerable. Yet, just like the buds on the bushes and trees, the potential for the future is astounding.
New life needs to be carefully protected and given the time and space to develop. Each one of us is an example of what we once were, a small new-born life. Newness in life comes to us in many different forms; each new day is bursting with opportunities; new people to meet; new information to be read or to be heard; new time to fill; new problems that need solving; new needs to attend to; new places to go to: each opportunity is like a new bud on a tree, at first we may not see all of the implications for the future.
The potential benefit, if we were to get involved, may not be obvious until we’ve allowed it to develop, until we’ve invested some of our time and energy. One opportunity often leads to another one, however if time and energy is not given to the first one, then the second one won’t happen.
But new opportunities are fragile to; a wrong word a sign of hesitation or doubt and they’re gone because they usually only appear for a brief moment.
So the next time you step out of your home this springtime look for the signs of new life around you. New life gives a sense of what’s to come, a hint of summer, optimism for the future and at the same time why not take a similar approach to what happens in your own life. Look out for opportunities, make a point of saying something to someone you don’t know very well; look at what may be happening in your local school and community; find out if volunteers are needed for possible projects around the town.
Imagine what the potential of any of these opportunities might be.
But do it quickly, the opportunity may not come again. Bill McMillan, Parish Deacon, St Columbkille’s.