As I write this, the rain clouds linger and the ground remains waterlogged from the seemingly constant rain of previous days with yet more rain on the forecast for this week.

I longingly await spring sunshine, warmer and dryer days, not least so that I can get my children to and from school in the dry or walk the dog without getting drenched but also because it makes me feel better, I feel freer when the sun is shining.

As the rain falls, my mind turns to the Bible story of Noah. He and his family stuck inside a large floating ark as rain fell for 40 days and 40 nights.

They must have known the longing for brighter days and the desire for freedom even more deeply than I might do today.

Someone else in the Bible who endured less than ideal conditions for 40 days was Jesus in the wilderness, who we remember during Lent.

Jesus went without food and water for all this time, but despite this, Jesus focused not on the challenges, but on God.

The promise of good weather ahead is an appealing one and yet, Jesus, through his death at Easter, shows us that God promises freedom of a greater kind, a far better freedom than bright weather brings.

He offers the freedom of life and ‘life to the full’.

So, while the rain may fall today, I’ll wait for Spring in the knowledge that while dreary weather comes and goes, God’s love lasts forever.

Lois Theobald is the children and families worker at Wokingham Baptist Church, writing on behalf of Churches Together in Wokingham

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