This morning as I look out my window, the sun is shining. It is a welcome change from the rain and dark weather we have had of late.
As a family, we go on lots of dog walks, we have 2 at home that need lots of exercise, and we spend a lot of time walking in the woods. This time offers us the opportunity to get back to nature, reconnect as a family and generally blowout the cobwebs.
Whilst walking on crisp winter days, with the sun shining, there is much opportunity for conversation, but also to take in the beauty of the woods that surround us. As the seasons change we notice lots of things, such as the changing colours of the leaves, whether the ground is muddy or dusty and the beginnings of growth when new wild flowers appear. But it is always more noticeable after there as been dark and damp whether.
Often in life, we go through dark patches, where the sun doesn't shine as bright in our lives, when we feel more gloomy, but as a Christian, I believe that these dark times are given to us to magnify the good times, to highlight the goodness of God more and truly show us that God is there through all things. Thomas Fuller who appears to be the first person attributed to the notion that 'The night is always darkest before the dawn' wrote in his religious travelogue A Pisgah-Sight Of Palestine And The Confines Thereof, 1650 "It is always darkest just before the Day dawneth"
Although it is a widely known proverb, for me it takes on new meaning through God, it helps me to remember that the sun will always shine again, that the trial will end and that I will be better for it. That God is ever present and His love never fails or gives up, even if at first I cannot see it.
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