Hunny! 40 Days in the 100 Aker Wood – Day 26 – Thursday after 4th Sunday of Lent
To Read:
Christopher Robin lived at the very top of the Forest. It rained, and it rained, and it rained, but the water couldn’t come up to his house. It was rather jolly to look down into the valleys and see the water all round him, but it rained so hard that he stayed indoors most of the time, and thought about things. Every morning he went out with his umbrella and put a stick in the place where the water came up to, and every next morning he went out and couldn’t see his stick any more, so he put another stick in the place where the water came up to, and then he walked home again, and each morning he had a shorter way to walk than he had had the morning before. On the morning of the fifth day he saw the water all round him, and knew that for the first time in his life he was on a real island. Which was very exciting.
It was on this morning that Owl came flying over the water to say, “How do you do?” to his friend Christopher Robin.
“I say, Owl,” said Christopher Robin, “isn’t this fun? I’m on an island!”
“The atmospheric conditions have been very unfavourable lately,” said Owl.
“The what?”
“It has been raining,” explained Owl.
“Yes,” said Christopher Robin. “It has.”
“The flood-level has reached an unprecedented height.”
“The who?”
“There’s a lot of water about,” explained Owl.
“Yes,” said Christopher Robin, “there is.”
“However, the prospects are rapidly becoming more favourable. At any moment —
“Have you seen Pooh?”
“No. At any moment —”
“I hope he’s all right,” said Christopher Robin.
“I’ve been wondering about him. I expect Piglet’s with him. Do you think they’re all right, Owl?”
“I expect so. You see, at any moment —
“Do go and see, Owl. Because Pooh hasn’t got very much brain, and he might do something silly, and I do love him so, Owl. Do you see, Owl?”
“That’s all right,” said Owl. “I’ll go. Back directly.” And he flew off.
In a little while he was back again.
“Pooh isn’t there,” he said.
“Not there?”
“He’s been there. He’s been sitting on a branch of his tree outside his house with nine pots of honey. But he isn’t there now.”
“Oh, Pooh!” cried Christopher Robin. “Where are you?”
“Here I am,” said a growly voice behind him.
“Pooh!”
They rushed into each other’s arms.
“How did you get here, Pooh?” asked Christopher Robin, when he was ready to talk again.
“On my boat,” said Pooh proudly.
(Winnie the Pooh – In which Piglet is entirely surrounded by water)
From the Scriptures:
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
(Genesis 1v8-9)
To Reflect:
“I say, Owl,” said Christopher Robin, “isn’t this fun? I’m on an island!”
“The atmospheric conditions have been very unfavourable lately,” said Owl.
“The what?”
“It has been raining,” explained Owl.
“Yes,” said Christopher Robin. “It has.”
“The flood-level has reached an unprecedented height.”
“The who?”
“There’s a lot of water about,” explained Owl.
“Yes,” said Christopher Robin, “there is.”
“However, the prospects are rapidly becoming more favourable. At any moment —
“Have you seen Pooh?”
“No. At any moment —”
Earlier this Lent (Day 12) we looked at Owl’s wordiness, today we see some of the consequences this brings to him and to those around him.
So eager is Owl to show off his knowledge about ‘atmospheric conditions’ he forgets to stop and spend time to enjoy and appreciate them with Christopher Robin.
So desperate is he to get to the end of his tale that he has forgotten that his friends may need his help, help that only he can offer, and instead he is over eager to show off. (He does seem to love the sound of his own voice…)
Owl is, when he rambles on about his own learning, a classic example of someone who is ‘So heavenly minded as to be of no earthly use’! He, as the apostle Paul is accused of, has so much knowledge he is driving everyone else (if not him) insane! Would that he would just stop and smell the petrichor…
When we become over-involved in our own interests it becomes very difficult to hear the voices of others. Owl in his eagerness to show his knowledge has lost his ability to listen to Christopher Robin. But there is worse in store. When we become over accustomed to listening to the sound of our own voice, our own set, our own group, our own posse, we find it more and more difficult to hear the voice of Our Beloved. For Owl, even though he flies off in search of Pooh, this means he is unable to see our beloved bear and the good ship The Floating Bear right behind Christopher Robin! For ourselves, as it was for our first parents, we may find that we are so bound up in our dogmas (which left unexamined can be little other than sanctified prejudice) that we hide behind them and become deaf to Our Beloved’s call of ‘Where are you’.
Yesterday the Church of England celebrated a moment, Thirty years ago, when we stopped listening to the sound of our own voices and instead, listening to the whisperings and urgings of the Holy Spirit, allowed women to be ordained as priests. This was a petrichor moment. A moment when the world smelt fresh and sweet, a moment which has blessed many and continues to enrich the Church of God.
As a Gobby Vicar (Owl may be another of my patron ‘saints’!) I love the sound of my own voice and never pass up an opportunity to tell others what God really wants us (well, others) to do. I know that daily I need to stop, smell the petrichor, and listen to the voice of Our Beloved saying ‘Where are you’? And then run in to the safety of the Everlasting Arms. Please join me….
To Pray:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself and the fact that I think that I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You.
And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, You will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.
(Thomas Merton)
To Do:
- The next time it rains on a warm day stop what you are doing, go outside, and breathe in the fragrance of the petrichor.
- Our Beloved says, ‘Where are you’? Spend time in prayer – this may take some time – answering that question.
Please Note: These reflections are also published on my blog: suffolkvicarhomes.com on Twitter as @SuffolkVicar, and on my public Facebook page Rev Andrew Dotchin
If you would like them as a daily email please send a request to vicar@felixparish.com
Acknowledgements:
Text from ‘Winnie the Pooh’ and ‘The House at Pooh Corner’ by A.A. Milne copyright © The Trustees of the Pooh Properties.
Line illustrations copyright © The Estate of E.H. Shepard.
Colouring of the illustrations copyright © 1970 and 1973 The Estate of E.H. Shepard and HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Prayers are from ‘The Little Book of Prayers’ edited by David Schiller copyright © David Schiller 1996: Workman Publications.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
These Reflections, ‘Hunny! 40 Days in the 100 Aker Wood’ are copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2024
Suffolk Vicar 