Hunny! 40 Days in the 100 Aker Wood – Day 40 – Holy Saturday

To Read:

“I am calling it this,” said Owl importantly, and he showed them what he had been making.  It was a square piece of board with the name of the house painted on it:

THE WOLERY

It was at this exciting moment that something came through the trees, and bumped into Owl.  The board fell to the ground, and Piglet and Roo bent over it eagerly.

“I have been told – the news has worked through to my corner of the Forest – the damp bit down on the right which nobody wants – that a certain Person is looking for a house. I have found one for him.”

“Christopher Robin and I are going for a Short Walk,” he said, “not a Jostle.  If he likes to bring Pooh and Piglet with him, I shall be glad of their company, but one must be able to Breathe.”

“That’s all right,” said Rabbit, rather glad to be left in charge of something.  “We’ll go on getting the things out.  Now then, Tigger, where’s that rope?  What’s the matter, Owl?”

Owl, who had just discovered that his new address was THE SMEAR, coughed at Eeyore sternly, but said nothing, and Eeyore, with most of THE WOLERY behind him, marched off with his friends.

So, in a little while, they came to the house which Eeyore had found, and just before they came to it, Piglet was nudging Pooh, and Pooh was nudging Piglet, and they were saying, “It is!” and “It can’t be!” and “It is, really!” to each other.

(The House at Pooh Corner – in Which Eeyore Finds the Wolery & Owl Moves Into it)

From the Scriptures:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to the place where I am going.”  ⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. 

(John 14v1-6a)

To Reflect:

Of all the passages in the stories from the 100 Aker Wood, and there are many that bring a tear to my eye, it is this one and those simple words from Pooh, ‘He’d come and live with me,’  that pulls at my heart strings the most.  If only more people could mirror this deep, uncomplicated, no questions asked friendship, the world would be a much better, kinder place.  

To be able to have the resources to provide a home for someone in your own home is one of the most wonderful blessings.  Living in houses with a little more room than the average family is sometimes a challenge for vicarage families.  On the one hand you often have more room than you need and your family can spread its skirts a little.  On the other hand, when you become empty-nesters, two people and a small dog living in a four bedroomed house with two large gardens and double garage can feel a little overwhelming (and also a challenge when it comes to utility bills!)

We have never regretted spending almost the whole of our married life living in a home that belongs to the Church and have no doubts that in retirement we will still find a roof over our heads.  If we are blessed this may even have a two bed-roomed home so that we may occasionally hold someone by the paw and say, ‘Come and live with us’.  Down the years we have hosted bishops in transit from one country to another.  We have welcomed ordinands on a summer placement.  We have gone and fetched a friend from the home from which they were about to be evicted.  And, on the most unprepared occasion of all, had someone arrive outside the vicarage door after a 50-mile taxi journey (for which we paid) looking for us to house and clothe them!  Our beloved family has not regretted one moment of this.  (Although a notice did once appear on a bedroom door which read, ‘Warning!  Bishop squatting.’)

To be able to provide a home for another is a precious gift, to know that our Beloved provides a home for us makes all our challenges, whether they involve squatting bishops or not, melt away.  This is made easier by the knowledge that whatever wind blows, whatever tree falls, whatever cherished home is appropriated by another, our Beloved makes a home with us.

When the date of Easter falls early in the year it coincides with a reminder of that other great feast of our Church Calendar at the other end of the year.  On Monday this week we kept the feast of the Annunciation.  Yes!.  We are just nine months away from Christmas.  As we look forward to the new life found in the Resurrection on Sunday we are reminded of our Beloved’s birth at Christmas.  Born, as in his death, with no place to lay his head we are given the opportunity to welcome the One who will welcome us.  This Christmas song may help us know that it is possible to use our emptiness to become a home to our Beloved at Easter…

I am not brave,

I’ll never be.

The only thing my heart can offer is a vacancy…

Offer your heart today…

(Anima Christi – Ignatius Loyola)