The Amber Phase…

There are always roadworks somewhere in Lowestoft. Gas, drains, the new bridge, fibre-optic cables… sometimes I think it’s just a bored digger-driver playing, or temporary traffic lights needing a temporary home. This week roadworks have arrived at the end of our road. Each day we’ll be negotiating several sets of traffic lights…

Musing…‘Red for stop’ and ‘green for go’ are easy… the amber phase…? Imagine the lights staying amber for longer…

This morning I met an elderly gentleman by the beach – unloading his fishing gear from the back of his truck. We chatted about the weather, his dementia, his struggles carrying his gear down the steps and across the beach… ‘There’s plenty of whiting about,’ he said…

Red’s easy – wind and rain keeping him at home. Green’s easy – sitting behind his rod catching whiting. The amber phase involves decision-making, loading and unloading his truck, struggling with his physical and mental limitations…  

Granddaughter-Hannah is hoping to go to university. A year ago there were red lights – she’d just started A-levels; in a year’s time hopefully there will be green lights and off she’ll go…

Now it’s the amber phase… yesterday’s conversations… recent decisions about courses and universities, filling in forms and writing her CV… in the next couple of weeks there will be interviews… then there will be studying and exams… anxiety, hard work, pressure…

I’ve been reading about Brendan the Navigator… Red lights… Brendan was a sixth-century Irish monk. Green lights… Brendan sailed from the south-west coast of Ireland to America.

The amber phase… Meeting with fellow-monks he said: ‘Most beloved fellow-warriors, I look to you for advice and help, for my heart and all my thoughts are united in a single desire. I have resolved in my heart, if only it be God’s will, to seek the promised land of the saints…’

Brendan and his fellow-monks then prayed and completed a 40-day fast before they set out.

Musing… the amber phase… the fisherman, Hannah, Brendan… waiting, decision-making, preparation, effort…