Hunny! 40 Days in the 100 Aker Wood – Day 28 – Saturday after 4th Sunday of Lent

For suddenly Christopher Robin saw that they might.  He opened his umbrella and put it point downwards in the water.  It floated but wobbled.

Pooh got in.  He was just beginning to say that it was all right now, when he found that it wasn’t, so after a short drink, which he didn’t really want, he waded back to Christopher Robin.  Then they both got in together, and it wobbled no longer.

“I shall call this boat The Brain of Pooh,” said Christopher Robin, and The Brain of Pooh set sail forthwith in a south-westerly direction, revolving gracefully.

You can imagine Piglet’s joy when at last the ship came in sight of him.  In after-years he liked to think that he had been in Very Great Danger during the Terrible Flood, but the only danger he had really been in was the last half-hour of his imprisonment, when Owl, who had just flown up, sat on a branch of his tree to comfort him, and told him a very long story about an aunt who had once laid a seagull’s egg by mistake, and the story went on and on, rather like this sentence, until Piglet who was listening out of his window without much hope, went to sleep quietly and naturally, slipping slowly out of the window towards the water until he was only hanging on by his toes, at which moment, luckily, a sudden loud squawk from Owl, which was really part of the story, being what his aunt said, woke the Piglet up and just gave him time to jerk himself back into safety and say, “How interesting, and did she?” when – well you can imagine his joy when at last he saw the good ship, Brain of Pooh (Captain, C. Robin; 1st Mate, P. Bear) coming over the sea to rescue him …

(Winnie the Pooh – In which Piglet is entirely surrounded by water)

(Isaiah 43v1-2)

Pooh got in.  He was just beginning to say that it was all right now, when he found that it wasn’t, so after a short drink, which he didn’t really want, he waded back to Christopher Robin.  Then they both got in together, and it wobbled no longer.

Have you ever been in a flood or been cut off from others by water?  Our small family, Lesley-Anne, 4-year-old Tim, 2-year-old Jothy, new born Dan and myself were made the gift of a holiday – one of the very few we have had without living with other family members – at African Enterprise, a Christian Conference Centre on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg.  Set high up in a valley in the shadow of the beginnings of the Drakensberg it was an idyllic place.  Surrounded by trees it was in a clearing with a fresh mountain stream babbling through it.  Then Tropical Storm Domoina arrived.  The access road to the centre was completely washed away and we could not get out, which meant an extra week’s holiday (yay!) but also we very quickly ran out of nappies (boo!  Or should I say ‘Pooh’…?).  Reinforcements arrived on the other side of the chasm that the gentle stream had carved through the valley and much fun was had in trying to secure the passage of bags of nappies from one side to the other.  My seamanship training at the Royal Hospital School bore fruit as I quickly knotted a monkey’s fist on the end of some clothesline to throw across the gap and we performed a stationary Replenishment at Sea manoeuvre and all was well.

For most people though, floods are not so gentle a burden as it was for our family.  On 31st January 1953 the Westernmost part of our Parish was flooded which resulted in the loss of 41 lives, many of them children or elderly.  Each year we hold a service at the Flood Memorial with children from our Primary School.  Each year Carole, who was a child at the time she survived the flood, brings along her favourite toy that was rescued from the waters.  He is a teddy bear named Jennifer.

Edward Bear,  like Jennifer survived a flood but it was not an easy journey.  Having survived his voyage on his ‘sometimes boat and sometimes accident’ Floating Bear he tries again.  As he climbs into the good ship, Brain of Pooh it wobbles a bit and he becomes a little queasy; maybe wary of yet another drenching?  So he wanders off to have a drink he didn’t really need to gather his courage and tries again.  It is when Christopher Robin and he both get in the umbrella together that it wobbled no longer and they can go on to rescue Piglet. In a similar way Jennifer Bear helps Carole (and me) to not ‘wobble’ so much and together they remind our community of the power of friendship and the need to care for all.

A parishioner with whom I pray most days reminded me this week of a famous African Proverb:

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

(Bambuti Pygmy Prayer)

Another Prayer:

Sometimes being surrounded by water means we are ‘flooded in’ instead of being flooded out’.  This can give us time to listen closely to the voice of our Beloved.  I find it easiest to remember that God holds me closest when I can’t escape from a place encircled by water.  For this reason my favourite ‘trysting places’ for times of prayer and quiet are islands such as Bute and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.  This prayer may be good to take with you whenever threatened by wind and rain and storm and tide.

Prayer of the Tides

(from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne)

From the flowing of the tide to its ebbing

From the waxing of life to its waning

Of your peace provide us

Of your life lead us

Of your goodness give us

Of your grace grant us

Of your power protect us

Of your love lift us

And in your arms accept us

From the ebbing of the tide to its flowing

From the waning of life to its waxing.