Thought for the Day 30th April - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.

During this period of self-isolation, we have been blessed with wonderful sunshine. Just think how awful it would have been if we had been confined during the wet, cold, grey days of last winter.

Because I have a dog, I walk her round the Hinckley Road Recreation Ground every day. Many people are now out walking for exercise, we are being very circumspect and moving round each other in semi-circles, but I have met and talked to people that I haven't seen for over 20 years.

In normal times they would be rushing out of their house, jumping into their cars and driving off without any personal contact. At present, it is more like the way life used to be, when we walked everywhere.

When we moved to Burbage in 1962, there was great rivalry between the surrounding villages, particularly between the football and cricket teams. When I told people in Earl Shilton, that we were going to live in Burbage, I was told that nobody would speak to me because they were a snobbish lot there!

How wrong they were!

Few of us could afford a car in those days and if we did, our husbands used it to get to work! So we women walked from the Three Pots, up to the village shops. The first time I went there, a lady who I had never met before ran across the road by the War Memorial, looked at my baby in the pram, talked to me and welcomed me to Burbage! I later came to know her, Rita Moore! A truly lovely lady who we all miss greatly.

What a difference she made to my life here, just by going out of her way to talk to me and make me feel welcome.

It has occurred to me over recent days, that over these years of so called progress, that we have lost a very valuable means of communication with each other because we are always rushing here and there.

Could something good come out of this coronavirus pandemic?

Jesus walked everywhere. He collected his disciples from people he met and talked to, from all walks of life. People walked with Him and talked with Him.

What would have happened if the good Samaritan had been rushing by in his car?

How many of the 5,000 people who he managed to feed, would have been there to listen to Him, if they had transport?

Would Saul have been walking on the road to Damascus?

Hopefully, by the time we can all move about again freely, we shall have learned to talk to each other again. So many people have shown kindness and concern for others. They have shopped for us, phoned us, emailed us and talked to us by whatever means are available. Father Andrew has kept us all linked together as a Church by every means available to him. We have had time to appreciate our gardens and to look around at all the wonderful gifts of nature that God has given to us.

So maybe some good can come out of this difficult time?

We can only pray for this to happen.

Pat Robinson