The storms of life

Dear Friends

Faithful readers among you will have noticed that I didn’t write a blog in October. And my sincere apologies for that, the truth is I simply forgot!!! And by the time I realised I had not published anything on the 19^th as usual, I was too tired to do anything about it.

I was tired not because I had caught Covid, but because of a quite stressful few months followed by a very stressful few weeks  including a last-minute trip to the Netherlands to see my father who at the time was very unwell.

I guess most of us go through those very stressful times when our work and our private life combined, just demand too much from us. When we feel we are needed everywhere, when we worry about everyone, when we can’t sleep nor relax in any way. Times the hymn writer Priscilla Jane Owens describes as the storms of life.

For the last month I have been a locum at St Columba’s (!) church in Jersey and if you have ever been to this or any of the Channel Islands you will know how stormy it can be, particularly at this time of year. In fact, it has been so windy that when we flew to Guernsey on a day trip, I was extremely relieved the cheaper option of travelling by ferry had not been available. Being on a plane “when the clouds unfold their wings of strife” is bad enough but being at sea with roaring waves is definitely not my idea of fun.

Having a great-great grand-father who was shipwrecked twice (the last time fatally I am afraid) I know that storms can be fatal for those at sea. And I guess that could be said  of our life storms as well. Some times whether it is due to work, family circumstances, political situations, or health issues it may feel like being shipwrecked and there being no one to save us. No hope at all.

Anchors symbolise hope which may be why sailors traditionally liked to have one tattooed on their arm, not to show others they were seamen therefore, but to remind them to keep hoping no matter what situation they find themselves in.

As for me, I find that hope , that anchor that helps me through the storms of life in my faith, in the knowledge that God is always with me in that still small voice that comforts and strengthens when I most need it.

May your anchor hold in the storms of life!

Blessings

Joanne