The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beeching
Day 26 – Thursday after Lent 4 – Twenty-Six Summers
To Read:
From the Scriptures:
1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the hunter
and from the deadly pestilence;
4 he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and defence.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night or the arrow that flies by day
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.
(Psalm 91v1-10)
From Vicky Beeching:
Twenty-Six Summers
I don’t know what the future holds
Or what lies beyond my horizon
The years ahead are just out of sight
Well, I think sometimes that You hide them
So that I’ll walk by faith not sight
So that I’ll take Your hand, holding tight
Through twenty-six summers
And twenty-six winters
I’ve laughed in the springtime
I’ve cried in the rain
Though I’ve questioned the meaning
Of some of life’s seasons
It’s true that they’ve left me holding on
Tighter to You
My one desire for the road ahead
Is that we would walk it together
Friend and King, You’re my everything
May I stay by Your side forever
For when my heart’s afraid, You’re near
Whispering to my soul, ‘don’t fear’
Chorus
I will trust in You alone
For You’re the hand leading me home
Leading me home
I’ve spent twenty-six summers
And twenty-six winters with You
Through all of the seasons and my search for reason
You carried, You carried me through
Chorus
I will keep holding on
Holding on to You (repeats)
To Listen:
To Reflect:
The year I turned 40 I had a stern talking to myself about acting my age and living a life appropriate to Anno Domini. I decided to look back over my life and chose from then on to live my life as it was in the year I felt I was most true to myself. From then until today I have decided that I am 14 years old and will not age one day more!
Fourteen was a great age for me. That year at boarding school I had won the Geography prize for my school year as well as being awarded second place in the Class prize; and as I was in the top stream that meant I was the second-best nerd of my age. It felt much better then than it sounds now.
It was in my fourteenth summer that I met Valerie, my very first official girlfriend. For us single sex boarding school types holding down long-distance relationships was hard work and to have a whole summer of looking forward each day to being in the company of just one person made me into a happier, and I hope, a better person. Thank you Valerie.
Getting older, I am an avid disciple of Peter Pan, does not necessarily mean you have to grow up. But it does mean having to ‘grow good’ and work out the primary relationships in your life.
At just 26 Summers (and winters!) Vicky shows us the two most important things about the road ahead.
We don’t know what the road ahead will be like.
We do know who will be holding on to us as we travel.
Is she having a little joke with our Beloved when she suggests…
Well, I think sometimes that You hide them
So that I’ll walk by faith not sight
So that I’ll take Your hand, holding tight
We do not know what the future holds so it is important to learn who holds the future and hold on to them (cf James 4v13-17).
There is something deeper here as well. There will come times when, because of the selfishness of others or our own sin, when it will be difficult to hold on. There are times when we will long to reach out and long to walk the unknown road ahead, but are ashamed, or have lost our way, or obstacles have been put in place. For those times I rejoice that faith is as much about being held in the arms of our Beloved as reaching to take the hand of God. (Those are also a good time to re-read George Herbert’s Love Bade me Welcome).
For the Summer-times, yes let’s learn to hold the hand of God and skip and dance and sing along the road of life.
Then in the Winter-times which , (as Amy Grant reminds us) may become the more precious because we have no agency of our own at all, learn to nestle into the warm embrace of the One Who Loves us Best.
And remember always…
Though I’ve questioned the meaning
Of some of life’s seasons
It’s true that they’ve left me holding on
Tighter to You
To Pray:
You,
God of my Love,
are the Life of souls,
the Life of lives,
Livingness itself,
and You shall not change,
O Life of my soul.
(Augustine of Hippo – Confessions)
To Do:
Think of a summery moment in your life when you were vividly aware of the presence of God and give thanks for being able to hold God’s hand.
Think of a wintry time in your life when you were perhaps not as aware of the presence of God and give thanks that you were held in God’s warm embrace.
Just for Fun:
Sing Vicky’s song replacing ‘26’ with your current age. If you want to return and rekindle the hope of an earlier age sing along with Taylor Swift.
oooOOOooo
If you would like to find out more about Vicky and her work here is a link to her Wikipedia entry. For a fuller picture her autobiography ‘Undivided’ is highly recommended
Please Note: These reflections are also published on my blog: suffolkvicarhomes.com on Bluesky as @suffolkvicar.bsky.social, and on my public Facebook page Suffolk Vicar – Rev Andrew Dotchin.
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Acknowledgements:
These Reflections, ‘The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beaching’ are copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2026 and may be reproduced without charge on condition that their source is acknowledged.
All of the music on the video clips are from YouTube and are © Vicky Beeching.
If you enjoy listening to her songs please consider buying her recordings. A full discography and other information about Vicky can be found on her website vickybeeching.com.
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.
Prayers are from A Diary of Prayer compiled by Elizabeth Goudge and are copyright © 1966 The Estate of Elizabeth Goudge.
Suffolk Vicar 