Bless The Lord O My Soul

it’s a glorious day.  Stepping into the kitchen for breakfast, I saw that,while our trees are still green, with the golden stubble in the fields behind them, the early morning light was suffused with an autumnal glow.  Condensation on the window panes even gave a hint of mist.  A foretaste of what is to come perhaps?  

Less than a week ago, summer clothes had given way to winter woolies.  Today, summer has reasserted itself; autumn is on hold. The weather is positively Mediterranean (according to the papers – warmer than Athens).  For the first time this year I am drafting this letter from the leafy glade at the bottom of the rectory garden.  

Here, small insects dance through shafts of sunlight, something buzzes just out of my sight, a butterfly flutters past, a bird darts across the lawn, the wind chimes add their melody, leaves rustle; the garden is alive.  Across the lawn, I can also see sunflowers gently nodding their bright yellow heads in the breeze.  In this place, at this moment, there is much to be thankful for.  I sit immersed in the peace and beauty of God’s creation; made all the more delightful by it’s being unexpected; praise God.

We live in anxious times and there is much to fuel anxiety and disturb our peace.  We shouldn’t pretend otherwise.  Yet there is also much to give thanks for.  Time and again over the last 18 months or so I have heard people say how blest we are in this part of Suffolk.  The beauty, the space and, as it is harvest, the bounty of the land around us.  As a well-known harvest hymn reminds us, ‘All good gifts around us are sent from heaven’.   Perhaps the greatest blessing of all is the freedom to stop and rest a while and just take in the beauty around us.  As St Augustine put it ‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.’

This week take a moment to rest, absorb the gifts of God around you and give thanks.

Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his Holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits (Ps103 :1,2)

Rev Philip

Notice sheet for 12 September 2021 here