Preparing for new life

Two special things happened today. The first occurred early this morning, when I became aware that a female blackbird was zooming backwards and forwards a few feet away from our family room window. She was landing on the lawn, pulling hard at the grass to bring up small pieces of damp turf with mud attached, and then zooming back to the camellia bush beside our fence and disappearing inside. Her male companion, meanwhile, was perched up in the ash tree high above her, keeping an eye out for predators. 

Nest building is clearly taking place, in preparation for bringing new life into the world.

The second thing that made today really special was walking up to church for the final hour of the three-hour Good Friday service. It was incredibly moving, bringing tears to my eyes. Some very powerful words were spoken by two different speakers and, as ever, I felt truly blessed to belong to such an amazing church family.

And, of course, the sadness of the Good Friday story will be swept away on Sunday by the message of new life for all those who believe in Jesus’ resurrection on that first Easter Day.