TIME TO BEGIN AGAIN

Easter Sunday was a perfect day for me, from start to finish. A frosty sunrise, to a sunny, increasingly warm day with a hot afternoon before the evening clouded over again.  By then, I welcomed the drop in temperature. Nevertheless, at the hottest time of the day, how pleasant it was to have sat under trees by a loch watching butterfllies - such delicate creatures to have come through the last harsh winter. Easter seems to be the time, when all around us we can see Nature's hand in the creation of new life beginning again.

Yesterday, invited to visit an art exhibition in a church, at the venue there were bookmarks with the picture of a butterfly settled on some blossom and the statement "Easter, time to begin again" - an interesting selection of words open to many interpretations. Later, looking at butterfly photographs I had just taken, I thought again about the bookmark phrase in connection with words a best friend had read to me on Good Friday. Whilst on the phone, she accidently knocked items to the floor and stopping to pick these up, she read to me some words from where a book's page had opened - beginning with the sentence about time, that "There is a right time for everything: A time to be born and a time to die." And we had talked about this, myself remembering my mum saying "people fear death and yet, some die without ever having lived and that should be feared much more." How precious was our time, our share of life.

TIME: There is a right time for everything;

There is a right time for everything;
A time to be born, a time to die

A time to plant;

A time to harvest;

A time to kill;

A time to heal;

A time to destroy;

A time to rebuild;

A time to cry;

A time to laugh;

A time to grieve;

A time to dance;

A time for scattering stones;

A time for gathering stones;

A time to hug;

A time not to hug;

A time to find;

A time to lose;



Easter - Time to begin again?



A time for keeping;

A time for throwing away;

A time to tear;

A time to repair;

A time to be quiet;

A time to speak up;

A time for loving;

A time for waiting;

A time for war;

A time for peace.

All around nature is beginning again, flowers coming in to bloom, young animals being born, birds nesting on eggs soon to hatch. To do something 'again', some can focus on an action being repeated because it wasn't done correctly the first time around. Yet surely, it is more liberating to focus on the positive - that with wisdom from past experiences, a person can take a new opportunity to "begin again". So, here is to new beginnings at the start of a New Year, at Easter or indeed, whenever they are taken - "Life is to be lived!"  



The verse above about 'Time' is from the Bible, Ecclesiastes Chptr 3. And I think, whether a person is religious or not, The Bible can make interesting, thought provoking reading. In this chapter, the passage moves on to question "What does a person really get from hard work" and states "Everything is appropriate in its own time." We can not see from the beginning to the end of eternity but we can conclude "there is nothing better than to be happy and to enjoy oneself as long as possible - to eat, drink and enjoy the fruits of our labour."

With a smile, I could translate the above as knowing when it's the right time to go with the flow and when instead, it's the time to paddle as hard as you can! Yes, sometimes, it is best to drift down stream with the current but, at other times, you need to face the immediate situation - find the strength required to paddle your own boat against the flow, safely steering your own course (as best as you can) through whatever storm in life it is that you face.

Yet, after the storm, embracing the need to pull your boat safely up on to the shore, taking time out for a walk to relax and reflect. By a loch, on a beach or looking down from a hill at the beauty below. Anywhere scenic is always a great place to think and focus the thoughts so that calm and refreshed we are ready to "begin again".

Easter Sunday, my day perfect from start to finish. Some clouds at sunrise causing the sun to illuminate the sky with an orangey hue. Then the continuing sunshine warming up the earth so that dormont butterflies took to the air. Then in the evening, after a long, hot day, the temperature finally dropped and by then, high above East Lothian on the Duns Road, I watched the misty clouds roll over the Firth of Forth. Time, is as always moving on. Easter Sunday drawing to a close before the start of the post holiday working week and my Monday morning - a time to begin again.