Today the weather here in Devon has felt really cold. It seems the right day to post my photo of local snowdrops, which I have been holding onto for the last couple of weeks. The recent weather patterns have been uncharacteristic of a British winter, and my gardening friends have been exclaiming at the unexpectedly early appearance of daffodils and crocuses, even blooming before Christmas in some places. I am still trying to disprove the theory that when you retire, you take up gardening. I am winning so far, and even my amaryllis plants are looking a little sad on the kitchen window sill!
Somehow as I write I am reminded of these words from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, made memorable for me by Nana Mouskouri’s song, ‘To everything there is a season’. The King James Version is perhaps the most familiar:
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
