Friday’s Thought
Good morning.
As you know I went to a concert on Tuesday night and during the interval I chatted about doing Morning Thought and that I was looking at Lent. We then talked about other things before the concert started again. It was during this second part that a thought flitted across my mind –‘what if someone listening thought that I was talking about the verb leant?’ Later on the way home it came again and I wondered what, if any, connected the two words?
Priests are rather like programme presenters as we can make links with anything and here is mine for linking LENT with LEANT.
The season Lent is a time when we reflect on our way of life. To do this we need to be supported, to lean on people. By that I mean to use them as a support and not to make them do what you want. Is this any different to how we behave at other times?
When I reflect on my own life the answer is ‘yes’ – there have been times when I have literally leant on someone most notably when I damaged my knee and after operations. There have been times when I have leant on friends and families for their emotional support – when I was made redundant and when my father died. There were also the less obvious times, when I felt low for no apparent reason or needed that mug of coffee and a little time.
Simon and Garfunkel sang a song called ‘I am a rock’ in it there are these lines ‘I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain. It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain. And a rock fells no pain; and an island never cries.’ No-one can live completely alone we all need someone who supports us, cries with us and celebrates with us.
Being that open to people can cause pain, we often flinch from becoming too close to someone because of that. Another song tells us how dismal a world is without love a thought that I think we could all agree with. And those who love us will stick with us and will not deliberately cause us pain. They are the ones to whom we open ourselves, we build up that trust by spending time with them.
In the season of Lent we have the time to spend with God, to renew our trust and faith in him. To recognise and acknowledge his love for us and that we can depend on his support, we can lean on him – as he was and is and will be.
I hope you find the support you need today.
