Recently I read a fantastic and thought-provoking book, The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks who reflects upon his family, upbringing, and life which revolves around the care of his family’s flock in the Lake District of Northern England. It is a gritty, honest, and beautiful look at the reality of what it takes to raise sheep in a region that is not for the faint of heart. There are moments of adversity and peace, loss and gain, beauty and ugliness, pain and comfort. There is a rhythmic aspect to his writing as the book is structured according to the seasons, summer, fall, winter, and concluding with spring. Towards the conclusion of the section on winter and the difficulties that season brings, Rebanks writes the following:
“I understand why people once worshipped the sun and had countless festivals to celebrate spring and the end of winter. It is this endurance in a place throughout everything that nature throws at it, year in, year out, that shapes our relationship with this place. We are weathered like the mountain ash trees that grow here. They bend away from the wind and are battered, torn, and twisted. But they survive here, through it all, and they belong here because of it. The weathering makes us what we are (Rebanks 2016, 233).”
Rebanks makes me think of what can be summed up in a single word, adversity. Based on your experience, the word adversity will likely have several very different connotations. I think that we could all agree that adversity is not pleasant. Furthermore, it is an inescapable reality. Yes, there are varying degrees to which we experience adversity on individual and collective levels, dependent upon our context. In these places of adversity, in what, in whom, do we find the motivation to continue the journey that we set out upon? What do we live for?
Winter doesn’t last forever, although at times it can seem to go on for an eternity. Or maybe it’s summer and your or my disdain for extreme heat and humidity. But one thing that time and even Scripture tells us, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1; c.f. 3:2-8).” Furthermore, there is a beautiful picture in Scripture where the people who follow Christ are likened to trees which are sustained in, through and by him (c.f. Psalm 1:3; Isaiah 61:3). I can’t help but think of Christ crucified upon the cross, who bears the literal marks in his resurrected body of what he did in our place for our sins, so that one day, the eternal season of rest and the enjoyment of the fullness of the presence of God may be realized. He promises to make all things new, and He who promises is faithful. Until then, we are called to endure in the place and season to which we are called. What is it that helps you hold fast when adversity hits, and sometimes hits hard? I am not advocating seeking out adversity, but rather a change in perspective, that adversity is not the end of the story, but it is in integral part of it. “The weathering makes us what we are.”
“So you live for those little signs that you’ve outlasted it, the point when the days lengthen in March or April and the days eventually warm up, the fields turn marginally greener, and the sheep suddenly lose interest in the hay as the grass begins to grow (Rebanks 2016, 233).”
