Mowing the Lawn

In these days after Easter, the weather has turned suddenly warm. We've gone from being a nation of people huddles grumpily around the fire staring out at the lashing rain to a people quite literally full of the joys of spring. Suddenly, the lanes are full of cyclists, walkers and riders. People are sitting in their gardens, which are suddenly burgeoning, and I have even met people who are delighted to be mowing the lawn. Yes, suddenly life seems good again!

It's worked well for me, having a few days off after Easter as I've been able to get back outdoors for a brief break walking, sailing and kayaking. The Vicarage lawns remain long, but I'd quite relish couple of hours out there with the mower.

It's so good that this release from the long grip of winter has come with Easter, for this is what the Easter season is all about. What so many of us are feeling is a sudden up-rush of energy, an unexpected enthusiasm for getting things right and straight, a chance to play, and even a joy in the mundane things - like mowing the lawn - that we will doubtless be grumbling about within a few weeks.

It gives us a little glimpse into what it was like for those first Christians as they turned from a spiritless and despondent group of ex-followers locked away for fear of what the crowds might do to them into - well, still a bunch of ordinary people, but people who had met Jesus raised from death to a new kind of life. They were brave where before they had been fearful. They spoke of their faith instead of hiding it away. They had a zest for life which had not been there before, but they were not afraid of death, for they now knew that death was a gateway into a new and different kind of life.

And that it what it can still be like for anyone who wants to be an ordinary, everyday follower of Jesus.