Morning near Tarn Hows, Lake District. Photo by Gill Henwood
An early morning reflection from the Lake District by my friend, Gill Henwood.
Out early morning, the dogs have swum in Tarn Hows and we’re returning through the woods above Coniston. The birds are singing all around us, in the unfurling tender canopy of leaves and tree blossom. No wind: the day is rapidly heating in the nearly-summer sun.
A cuckoo sounds across the fells. We heard two yesterday in Little Langdale … heralds of summer (and danger, if you are a future foster parent bird sitting on eggs). The shade of the delicate canopy brought to mind:
“Keep me as the apple of your eye Hide me under the shadow of your wings.”
Psalm 17.8
The peace and calm of protecting shade, the ‘wings’ of myriad mature trees above.
But other wings break into the birdsong (though they ignore them). Fighter jets are training, flying circuits below the fell tops, preparing for defence, reminding us that peace and calm have a terrible cost. Thinking of Ukraine, the Middle East, people in conflict wherever. May they one day hear the birds sing, the cuckoo call, and find shelter under shading trees.
Till then, may our prayer be with the psalmist,(above) prayed at Night Prayer, Compline, the traditional offices, prayed at Night Prayer, Compline, the traditional offices.
Gill Henwood, photo towards Gooseyfoot Tarn, Lake District.
Behold I make all things new (Book of Revelation 21: 5) This is a hope expressed at the end of the New Testament and it is re-enacted each year as Spring approaches.Despite the effects of climate change, Nature is determined to keep Planet Earth going. This, despite attempts by some of the human species to do the opposite. But we can rejoice and have hope. The Witch-Hazel in my garden is already producing its leaves on which it will build new growth. Tulips, daffodils and other bulbs are beginning to peep over the parapets of their pots. Things are being made new.
Gooseyfoot Tarn. (Photo by Gill Henwood)
My friend Gill who sent me the photos of Nature at work in her part of the Lake District, at Gooseyfoot Tarn, has also sent me this comment:
“Young beech saplings keep their copper leaves during the harshest weather – a promise of new growth in the slender buds along their twigs The green tubes in the foreground of Gooseyfoot Tarn (above) are seedlings planted among the roots of fallen and felled trees. All the larches were diseased and beeches on the tarn fringe were taken down too. It’s now open, with natural generation of conifer saplings and planted native deciduous woodland. Gooseyfoot Tarn is thought to be an old duck pond shoot from before the forestation, when Grizedale was moorland. There is still a wide variety of fungi in the soil and wild flowers along the tracks, despite the forestry activity. The ‘naff daff’ shoots are naturalised old bulbs from when this track was a field boundary. They started flowering a few years ago after the waterlogged land drains were restored and now line the path with jolly profusion! Survivors when much else drowned…
As February approaches, in the Northern Hemisphere, we can look forward to more light and the greening of new growth. Life in our world is far from easy just now and sometimes it is hard to have hope. The world’s political situation is very uncertain and wildfires and other climatic disasters make it hard for many others. Yet, there is a renewal and regeneration which tells us a different story. Below is a prayer which many will find helpful. In whatever way we are able, may we all try to take up what it is telling us about our Stewardship of the earth and our share in the creative process of God.
A Prayer: Heavenly Father, creator of all things, help us to realize that we are custodians of the wonderful heritage with which you have so generously endowed us. Give us the minds and the hearts to rejoice in your creation, and to walk through your beautiful world with seeing eyes. Help us to save the good earth, the stately trees, the dainty wildflowers, the birds and all things that have no voice to protest against destruction. We thank you for your bounty and pray we may be worthy of it. Amen
Mist over Windermere, Lake District, photographed by Gill Henwood.
The BBC reported last week that a water company responsible for supplying water and treating sewage in Cumbria has been pumping untreated waste into Lake Windermere. This was between 2021 and 2023. It was illegal dumping of sewage and it has damaged the water quality in the biggest Lake in the area. The figure reported is over 140 million litres of waste poured into the Lake at times when this was not permitted.
Britain’s water companies are under scrutiny for the pollution of lakes, rivers, streams and ultimately, the Sea. One campaigner said that Windermere, the jewel in the crown of the Lake District National Park is being used as an open sewer. Hopefully the Water company concerned will be taken to task by OFWAT, the Water Services Regulation Authority and will be sanctioned to act responsibly in service to their customers. and keep our water supplies safe.
The boy is trying to catch a few drops of water in Gaza. (Getty Images)
Keeping water safe to drink combined with making it available to those in great need is a different but not unconnected story. The Global Commission on the Economics of Water report that more than 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and 3.6 billion people – 44% of the population – lack access to safe sanitation. Every day, 1,000 children die from lack of access to safe water. Demand for fresh water is expected to outstrip its supply by 40% by the end of this decade. Over half of the world’s food production comes from areas experiencing unstable trends in water availability. For the little boy in our other picture (reproduced last week in the Guardian Newspaper) it makes no difference how much water is wasted in the Lake District. He could well be dead by the time the balance between making money for shareholders and honest and responsible service to its customers gets sorted out. In Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, Africa and so many other dark places in the world, the basic right of innocent people for clean water is making the situation far worse. So we have to work for a fair distribution of God’s provision of natural resources making them available to all. Failure to do this would be yet another sign of our misuse of the Planet which is not ours to do with as we like but is for all to share.
Loving God, we ask for Your blessings on children, mothers, fathers, and communities who are thirsty. Purify, protect, and multiply their water sources. Strengthen their resolve so they may fully enjoy the benefits of clean water — essentials like education, gardens of fresh produce, and good health.
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Heavenly Father, source of living water, Proverbs 25:21 says, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.” Please convict our hearts to help children, families, communities, and even our enemies to receive clean, accessible drinking water.
Mr G's Ponderings 