Archdeacon Rachel Mann shared this Pause for Thought on the BBC Radio 2's Good Morning Sunday show. She reflects on summer memories and how they reveal God's presence in both the joys and the hardships.
How well I remember them … those seemingly endless childhood days of summer when I’d be out on my bike from dawn till dusk or pretending I could fly as I leapt off the big swings on the village green … Glorious days when us kids would laugh so much the fizzy pop would come bubbling out of our noses, and when a heatwave meant you could pick the melted tarmac out from the road and summer went on for so long you’d almost forget how to write by the time school started again.
Was it really like that? Probably not. That’s the thing about getting older: I tend to edit out the terrible summer memories and bathe the good ones in hues of nostalgia. And that is okay. The bible reminds me to give thanks in all circumstances, but I also find the older I get, the more I need the comfort of simple, happy memories too.
Summer, for me, has always been a time for making those memories that will get me through the long winter months, though this summer has been a bit different. After major surgery in the spring, I was diagnosed with intestinal failure. Now I need intravenous fluids several times a week to ensure I don’t become poorly. It is a massive health change, though, on the upside, I’ve acquired some amazing medical skills.
I spent a good chunk of the summer on Salford Royal’s Intestinal Failure Ward. Not the kind of place to make the easy summer memories I made as a child. And certainly, I shed my fair share of tears. But I have other, amazing memories too: of devoted medical staff helping people like me come to terms with difficult diagnoses; of laughter after the tears and new hope found. Good memories like these are, for me, memories full of love and as St John reminds me, where there is love there is God.
As summer draws to a close, I will then keep these memories, both old and new, as special treasures to be taken out and smiled at in the months to come. Even as the long nights of darkness beckon, they will bring me great light and comfort, a glimpse of God’s love as I prepare for whatever the future may yet bring.