When I began to write this column, the sun was streaming through the window on a lovely bright and pleasantly warm spring morning. The day before, however, I was caught in a torrential downpour where sheets of cold, fat, and intense rain drenched me. Today, something different again, a chill grey day.
For me the unpredictability of the weather can be the difference between simply putting on a different coat and deciding to take an umbrella with me – or making the decision not to go out at all. Farmers don’t have that luxury, as the weather is a far more strategic issue, amongst the many they face.
A difficult and wet spring
A recent news report highlighted the weather’s impact on potato farmers in Northern Ireland. While it has been a difficult and wet spring so far, one grower said that on the whole the weather pattern since July has not helped. With more rain at this time of year, he said that the ground was too wet for machines to work on, potentially delaying growth and production by up to six weeks.
Another farmer said that last year’s wet summer and autumn had created a ‘perfect storm’ with shortages of seed potatoes, less land to grow them on due to saturation, and a depleted cold store crop, which hadn’t helped matters. It was also proving difficult for other farmers, with cattle kept inside for longer requiring more feed.
For all of us, and not just farmers who have so much to contend with at the best of times, life isn’t always easy. It can be hard, unrelenting and full of curve balls. None of us is immune from hardship, from suffering and the effects of the unpredictability of life, not even Christians.
In the unpredictability of life - hope in Jesus and His promises
As followers of Jesus Christ, what we do have, however, is an undying hope in the person of Jesus Himself and His promises. He who miraculously calmed the storm (Mark 4:35-41) can turn our lives around, and just as miraculously help us to withstand the vagaries of life and the situations that we face, giving us the power and the strength to get through life’s challenges.
In coming to know Jesus the journey of each Christian is different – but we all come to the same point: A recognition that something is missing from our lives, the realisation that we can’t actually do life on our own, and most importantly, the acknowledgment that we need a Saviour to forgive our sins and make right our relationship with God.
When that happens, we can join with the Psalmist and say, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth…He will not let your foot slip — he who watches over you will not slumber…The Lord will keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” (Psalm 121:1&2, 3, 7&8).
For Christians, our Heavenly Father, is also “...our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1) and come rain or shine, we know that because of God’s great love for us “…we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning…” (Lamentations 3:23). Whatever you may be going through, for a fresh start and a hope-filled new life – will you say ‘yes’ to Jesus?
Before coming to live in Belfast nearly 40 years ago, Mark Smith grew up in a village in rural Sussex, coming to Northern Ireland in his late teens. He is a member of Bloomfield Presbyterian Church in east Belfast and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s press officer.
His blog appeared in today’s Farming Life, a fortnightly column entitled ‘Good News for the Countryside’, where people from a farming background, or who have a heart for the countryside, offer a personal reflection on faith and rural life.
Cloudy sky (Credit: Moritz Boing Pexels.com)
You can look at other blogs in this series here.If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Rev Kenny Hanna, PCI’s Rural Chaplain at ruralchaplain@presbyterianireland.org or call him on 07938 488 372.