Hope Springs eternal

Sally's community have been through the mill this week, but she has been alert for signs of hope, things to lead us on through dark times - and her search has inspired this week's Friday Five

What have you seen/ heard this week that was a :

1. Sign of hope? There was something wonderful today, but that story belongs to another so I can't share it - except to say that my study was postively shining with hope for an hour this morning...Twenty small boys from the Beaver colony rampaging cheerfully around the church on Tuesday night...Those children from Little Fishes crowding round me, almost trembling with excitement at receiving a piece of bread "with love from God" were, as they always are, the greatest promise that all shall be well.

2. An unexpected word of light in a dark place? I'm being given lights by so many people right now, things to cherish and to take with me to hold when the road darkens...My "Kingdom Box" houses some real treasures ... and as an extra affirmation I was asked to preside at a Eucharist tomorrow for all the curates, at the last CME 1-4 session I'll be attending...

3. A sign of spring?

I have daffodils growing on my front lawn, and the trees around Charlton Kings are coming into leaf, and even into flower...Earlier this week, a sudden gust of wind blew down a mini blizzard of blossom as I made my way home from Evening Prayer.

4. Challenging/ surprising? As this letting go process continues, I was amazed to find myself achieving a handover of a situation that has demanded and received alot of love and attention , - and rightly so. But I made a last visit to pray with someone on Tuesday, talked about a future resource for her support, set it up and have managed to believe it will work. I've put it down (and there are no claw marks!) Both challenging, and in the apparent success, completely stunning.

5. Share a hope for the coming week/month/year....

Week: that I might get the curtains for the vicarage sorted (shallow? me???)

Month: that I might "go out with joy", with the thankfulness for all that I've learned, experienced and shared at St M's outweighing the sadness of Goodbyes

Year: that I might lay the foundations to become a good parish priest in my new context

Bonus play... a piece of music/ poem guaranteed to cheer you? Two contrasting possibilities - the Et Resurrexit from Bach's B Minor Mass or, alternatively, most things by Duke Special. I've never yet found myself in a place so desolate that this music wouldn't turn things round for me.