“Everything is going to be alright” - the sun will still rise in the morning

At the beginning of this pandemic, a particular poem came to some prominence when it was read in a video which appeared on YouTube.

It was a poem called “Everything is going to be all right” written by the poet Derek Mahon and read in the video by the actor Andrew Scott, who starred amongst other things in “Fleebag.”

It’s not a particularly long poem, but the last line sums the poem up as it says, “Everything is going to be alright.”

The poem speaks of the reality of going through difficult times, but it also reminds us that in the midst of such times, still the sun rises every day.

The author, Derek Mahon was born in Northern Ireland, and by his own admission living through the troubles there very much shaped his writing.

When I think about the things he must have seen happening round about him, as well as things which no doubt happened directly to him, I wonder at his positivity.

Sadly, he died last week, but his legacy to the world is surely that poem which tells us that no matter what difficult times we are going through, the sun will rise in the morning, and ultimately everything is going to be alright.

I often wonder what makes some people positive people, and some people negative people.

Two people can go through the same situation and one will come out of it hopeful for the future and one will come out the opposite, fearful of the future.

One of the things we’re missing badly is the ability to sing in church, as so many of the great hymns lift our spirits as we sing together great and inspiring words about the love of God and the assurance that he will be with us especially through difficult times.

It would be easy to assume that the writers of these hymns were people who had charmed lives and knew little of suffering. Actually, the opposite is nearer to the truth.

One such hymn which comes to mind is the well-loved, “What a friend we have in Jesus.”

The writer Joseph Sc riven was engaged to be married, but the night before the wedding, his fiancée accidentally drowned.

Through time he was fortunate to meet another lady and they too became engaged. Almost unbelievably, she became ill before the vows could be exchanged and also died before the wedding.

It would have been understandable if he had lost his faith in a loving God, but thankfully he didn’t. His hymns are a legacy to us all, that even when we go through difficult times, we can still have a positive mind-set.

The nights are getting longer, the restrictions are getting stricter, but maybe we have a choice as to how we face these times.

The sun will rise in the morning, even if the morning is damp and cold, and that tells us that ultimately everything will be all right.