Sometimes old songs play over in the mind. Recently, I’ve found myself humming Vanessa Williams’ 1992 hit, ‘Save the best for last‘: ‘Sometimes the snow comes down in June, sometimes the sun goes round the moon………‘ As the song says, sometimes this world is a crazy place. Sometimes flash floods can wash away bridges and sheds, crops and animals, and deposit four foot of mud in people’s homes while the sun shines a few miles down the road. Sometimes the saddest things happen to the kindest of people.
Often when bad things happen, when crazy things happen, we look for someone to blame: ourselves, our neighbour, the Government, God. Sometimes we search for a reason or a purpose.
Sometimes there are contributing factors – climate change being one that we are aware of and that we can all try to do something about. But there’s not always someone to blame. There’s not always a reason or purpose. Pain, bad luck and bad weather just happen.
We could blame God. We could ask why God created this crazy, unpredictable, and painful world in the first place. Maybe the answer has something to do with freedom, the freedom for a world to evolve through the interplay of chance and law to create ingenuity, complexity, beauty and creatures who truly love.
As the song says, the best, we pray, will be saved ’til last. We hear the resurrection promise of the triumph of good over bad, of joy over pain, of life over death. We glimpse the vision of a new creation where every heart, every creature, every particle, gathered together in Christ is held freely in the eternal love of God.
But we don‘t have to look so far into the future to see the best saved ‘til last. For the human heart that freely lives also freely gives and freely loves. Stone walls are rebuilt, paths dug through the mud, and cars pushed to safety. People share homes, clothes, and meals, haylage and fields. Compassion, support, generosity and humour help to rebuild and restore. And a community comes together to grieve in a village church filled with flowers, love, laughter and affection.
It may seem that this world is a crazy place, but in all the September (and October) craziness, keep on praying and keep on loving, and keep on working for a world where the best is saved ‘til last.
With every blessing,
Camilla