A time of hope?

It's swiftly becoming a beautiful and bright Spring for us in the UK. We've been blessed with lots of sunshine and the odd bit of warmth, though it's still chilly in the main. Spring is a time of hope and looking to the future, of being glad we've got through another dark, cold Winter.

In a few days the clocks 'spring forward' and we can look forward to lighter evenings-something I'm very much looking forward to.

Sometimes the world seems so entirely full of hope that we almost take our eye off the ball and forget, if only for a moment that the feeling of hope and of a new dawn is not, and cannot be shared by everyone.

I write as last night we learnt of the death of the actress Natasha Richardson, a beautiful Mother, Wife, Sister, Daughter and friend. A desperately sad death coming out of nowhere it seems.

Jade Goody is facing her last moments with her small children, her husband of less than one month and her other family and friends. Jade is 27 and less than a year ago was diagnosed with cervical cancer.

In Northern Ireland more families are grieving and walking behind hearses carrying the bodies of those they love. All too often we hear of the death of yet another soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan, of more civilian deaths, of suffering in Zimbabwe, Darfur and so many other places.

It seems that there is as much despair and pain and suffering as there is hope. It's easy for all that hope to evaporate, to seem as fragile as the daffodils thin flowerheads. It's all very cliched though, but we can look back to these flowers to reignite our hope. Look at the snowdrops and crocuses, the little naccissus daffodils, all so small and yet they force their way through frost hardened grown, through snow if necessary and bloom their little hearts out.

The winter flowering bulbs have to be some of the most hardy species in nature. You can plant them one year and for years after they'll just get on with it and flower merrily and what's more increase in number year on year. They do this all by themselves, those tiny little snowdrop bulds smaller than the fleshy part of your thumb, do battle with Winter year on year and what's more win that battle.

No matter how harsh the Winter, how freak the weather conditions, when we are doubting the existence of Spring these little flowers show us to keep the faith, that there are cycles in this life and come what may these cycles of life carry on and on and on.

It's normal to feel despair at times, to worry and be afraid but all things will pass and the next cycle will begin. We always remember how amazing the Spring flowers looked last year and the year before yet each year is somehow even better than the previous and if we ever feel small and wek and out of control of life we could do worse than going off and finding some little Spring flowers and remembering that if they can get through the darkness of Winter-so can we all.


I'll get some photos for this post asap but I wanted to post the words anyway.