From the Rectory

 

Dear Friends,

 

As some of you know, I recently lost my diary – probably somewhere along the footpath between the Elms (where the new Rectory is) and Wraxall church. (I’ve taken to walking as often as possible in an attempt to get a little fitter; it is such a delight to enjoy the varied wild-flowers, the ripening wheat, barley and oats, the antics of dragon-flies dancing above the Land Yeo…..). So, somewhere among the lush grass lies all my life, contained in a pocket-size diary. The pages were so densely packed with details of appointments and meetings here and there – and now, nothing; I felt dreadfully disorientated at first. (If you know of something I should have been at and wasn’t, please accept my apologies……)

 

It’s all made me stop and think – about ‘busyness’, and about priorities. Everyone seems to be so busy these days – not to be busy sometimes seems almost an admission of failure. It’s easy, in the general rush to pile on more and more activities, to lose sight of priorities. Sometimes we’re so busy that we don’t give people the undivided attention that they need and deserve, because we’re all too aware of the next appointment that we have to get to. And then there’s tomorrow to worry about – and next week. Children lose out because of busy parents; friends get neglected; the elderly, who can’t be rushing around, are left feeling lonely because no-one has time to slow down and talk to them.

 

Jesus seemed able to get things right. He was never too busy to give his full attention to the people he met, and he taught his followers that they needed just to concentrate on the present moment, asking God to give them their bread for the day (‘daily bread’), rather than worrying unnecessarily about what lay ahead. Get your priorities sorted out, he told his followers, and everything else will fall into place. And one thing he always found time for was ‘time out’ spent quietly praying.

 

Summer holidays are nearly here for many of us, and that’s a time when we can pause and take stock of our lives – and perhaps re-assess our priorities and our use of time. As we do so, we might bear in mind the words of that familiar hymn,

 

‘Dear Lord and Father of mankind’:

‘Drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease;

take from our souls the strain and stress,

and let our ordered lives confess

the beauty of thy peace.’

 

Tomorrow I’m off to W.H.Smith to buy a new diary; but as I take a pen to its pristine blank pages, I’m going to try to hang on to a proper sense of priorities, and aim for an ‘ordered life’ that reflects the peace of Christ.

 

Meanwhile, I recommend walking through the fields as a good way of slowing down and soaking up the peace of the countryside. And if you should find a diary as you walk along, well, you know where I am……

Wishing you a peaceful summer,

 

With love,

 

Rosey