Now and Always

Yesterday we celebrated grandson-Zak’s twenty-first birthday. Daughter-Jo had asked him what he wanted and ‘Granny’s roast dinner’ was part of the requirement. Girlfriend Cay came too. There were presents and balloons – as well Granny’s birthday cake, cheesecake and banoffee pie. It was a lovely family occasion.

Zak talked about his ‘now’ – his current work, living accommodation, relationships; his hopes and plans for his unknown future. There’s also the ‘always’. His first 21 years can’t be changed; he’s always the son of Jo and Allan, our grandson, a loved and valued part of our family.

Yesterday’s Sun told us: ‘Actress Billie Piper has split from her rocker partner Johnny Lloyd after eight years… The former Doctor Who star, 41 and the singer, 38, have a five year old daughter. A source said: ‘The relationship had run its course.’’

It saddened me to think that any loving relationship could ‘run its course’. It had a ‘now’, but not an ‘always’.

Yesterday a TV programme reminded us of Dame Cicely Saunders. She’s remembered as a Christian nurse, social worker, doctor and writer who emphasised the importance of palliative care, concerned for the physical, social, psychological and spiritual needs of both patients and their families.

Cicely Saunders is particularly remembered for her significant contribution to the origins of the hospice movement… concerned about the ‘now’ – when an ‘always’ couldn’t be promised: ‘We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.’

A group of us from church are following a lent course with daily readings and meditations. Today’s thoughts are based around the prophet Isaiah’s picture: ‘Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.’

The invitation ‘Come’ for God’s free provision of milk for strength, wine for joy, and water for life, is both for today’s ‘now’ and the unknown future’s ‘always’.