March 2018 Letter

Dear Congregations
This past winter is the coldest winter we have had in years. The last time it snowed so much was in 2010, when my wee boy Nehan was just 1 year old. I’ll never forget how he fell over in the snow and almost disappeared completely! After which he hated the snow with a passion… Until he was old enough to start enjoy sledging – which instantly turned snow into something to look forward to!
I was so excited when the first snowdrops appeared, because these lovely wee flowers hold the promise that spring is just around the corner! But as I am sitting here typing this letter – it’s snowing again!! And that made me worry about the snowdrops. Will this late cold snap make them die? Break them completely? So I read up about snowdrops, and discovered that although in very cold spells of wintry weather, the snowdrops collapse to the ground, and might even look dead, they are nothing of the kind! When the temperatures rise, they will resurrect themselves unharmed. In layman’s terms, this is because snowdrops have built-in anti-freeze!
Isn’t that just a lovely metaphor for what happened to Jesus at Easter time?
He died, but at the right time, God resurrected him! And because of what God did for us through Jesus –exactly the same thing is true for all of us too: We sometimes have to go through hard times. Times so bad – that we might even think we are broken - that the damage is irreversible. But our faith is like the snowdrops’ “anti-freeze”. It can change our winters into spring. Sometimes even when we least expect it…
So don’t be discouraged if you get snowed under by worries or problems or sadness. The sun WILL come out again, because Jesus is alive!
May the love of God shine brightly on your faces this Easter.
Many blessings,
Nanda