To grow.

My daughter had to write a haiku last week and she picked the daisies she saw that were struggling against the nettles pushing against them. Her words contained the title of my post for today.

I was thinking about how many of us are struggling one way or another right now. Life is not easy and there are times when the nettles of despair, darkness and defeat seem to be taking over. If we give those negative feelings more time and space then they will fill it, no doubt.

This spell of hot weather is beautiful to look at but not easy to survive in, for plants, animals or humans. I stay out of the sun because heat saps all my energy and strength. I had to turn back on my cycle yesterday as my hip was hurting. My dad had to get the wheelchair out because my foot would not lift for me to walk inside. These are my nettles. What are yours?

I do hope that you can find a way of not letting them win; a way that pools your resources and overcomes that badness. I wonder how many fifteen/sixteen/eighteen year olds feel beaten by exams this term, or how many patients have been told the cancer has got worse. I have heard people saying ‘they’re going to beat this thing’ but sadly no amount of will-power can stand against the unforgiving ravages of terminal disease. There are some nettles that will always win. But you can still search for the valiant daisies in the midst of them.

Last night I read ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.’John 1:5 (NLT) and it gave me hope. No matter how dark or painful your life is, nothing, no-one, can ever take away your light. Hold tightly to it and remember to look for it, even when you feel entirely swallowed up. My question for you is: where can you see it today?

Matt Redman gives a few clues.

‘It’s there in the newborn cry
There in the light of every sunrise
There in the shadows of this life
Your great grace
It’s there on the mountain top
There in the everyday and the mundane
There in the sorrow and the dancing
Your great grace
Oh such grace. ‘