Welcome

Summer is a wonderful season here in Essex. We have enjoyed the lush green of the gardens and hedgerows, even though the lack of rainfall this year has turned some of that greenery to dry stalks. The crops are ripening in the fields and we are already beginning to see the fruits appearing, including all the baby conkers! All these things remind us of the overwhelming generosity of God who year by year gives us these riches to enjoy.

Summer can also offer us opportunity for some ‘down time’; a time simply to enjoy being a ‘human being’ rather than a ‘human doing’. So whether we are fortunate enough to have a holiday or are at home this year, perhaps we can find a few moments each day to look up and out beyond the everyday things on our ‘to do’ list, to pause and in our own way to ‘give thanks’. ‘If ‘thank you’ is the only prayer we ever say’, said Meister Eckhart, a Christian spiritual teacher, ‘it is enough’. 

Thankfulness begins with two little words but grows, like those crops and that fruit into a way of life which is about living with gratitude in our hearts and by our actions. That’s life changing!