This first appeared as the Sunday Morning Thought on Rutland and Stamford Sound on Sunday 5th March 2023

Good morning,

This morning I was looking out at my garden at the snowdrops that have shot up in the middle of the garden. Rutland is full of snowdrops across the county, and we are also starting to see daffodils beginning to emerge. The early signs of Spring are upon us.

This is both exciting but at times surprising. The air still has a cold winter bite to it, and it seems that things are getting colder, not warmer. The coldness and darkness of winter are still hanging over us, telling us that winter is still here. Yet at the same time, the days are getting longer and brighter, and the wind is slowly softening and warming.

We are in this weird transitory season where it is clearly not yet Spring, but at the same time winter is no longer as cold and gloomy as it once was. We know that Spring is coming, and there are increasingly more signs of its near arrival. 

The Christian faith uses a phrase called ‘the now and the not yet.’ It refers to how the things waiting for us in heaven can be realised in part on earth, yet not fully. In our weather, I can see that we are in a now and not yet season. Winter is beginning to give way to Spring, but Spring has not yet fully arrived.

And this applies not only to seasons of the year but also to seasons of life. To pregnant mums who have babies that are here in the womb and not yet born. To people working on a project, making it alive and real, but it is not complete until the project is finished. To students who have finished exams but still await the results. These are all now and not yet transitory seasons.

These transitory seasons can be challenging for us, especially when we feel caught in between two seasons. But if you look around carefully, there are signs of hope. Signs of a new season; a foretaste of new exciting things to come. Being in winter can be draining, but there are signs of Spring to give us hope and point us to brighter days, physically and metaphorically.