Silver Lining

In this wet summer, is there a silver lining to be discovered?

Yes! Cherries galore this year! Nationally, this wet weather has encouraged a good harvest of plump juicy cherries - according to the Waitrose weekly newspaper. Our own cherry tree, which has hardly ever produced more than a handful of cherries, because it is never watered enough, has this year done much better! And the blueberries are the best yet - because they like wet conditions! And our loganberries are also ripening as large plump fruits, much better than when I have tried to water them enough in drier summers. So, a fruit-laden silver lining to this cloud-laden summer.

The brother of Jesus, the Church leader and apostle, James, had some startling things to say about the silver lining which we may discover when things don't work out the way we want them to.  ' Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. ' (James 1.2-4)

Most of us are naturally allergic to thinking like this. 

Our culture and our lifestyle habits teach us to get what we want, and to moan and be dissatisfied if we don't get it when we want it. Our greed and impatience, which has deep roots in all of us, doesn't want to hear what James says. 

The truth is that God's deep work in our lives can only happen when we are forced into places of discomfort. That is when we learn that we are not the answer to our problems, but that God alone can rescue and deliver us. It is not surprising that it takes time in tough circumstances if we want to see our  endurance fully developed.

So let us look for God's silver lining in the present difficulties we may well be facing these days.

Best wishes,

Richard