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Good Morning

Katie and I have been friends since a game of tag on our first day at primary school and Jo and I have been pals since we first scrummed down together on a university rugby pitch.  I have lots of people I know, but these are my friends. The trouble is we have all moved around the country, got busy lives, families and jobs that mean we don’t see each other as often as we’d like, but when we do get together every couple of years or so, it’s like we were never apart and pick up just where we left off. Seeing my old friends is so precious and because it’s not all the time it means when we are together we squeeze every minute we can out of the opportunity, leaving ourselves earnestly looking forward to the next time. It’s not just friends that can be like that: the stories of my childhood can have the same power.

My well-thumbed copy of ‘Winnie the Pooh’ (the original of which was published on this day in 1926) is like meeting up with an old familiar friend.   I know its creases and its edges, the pages that are torn, the words and the illustrations so well and of course the story of the unique friendships contained within its pages. There’s a comfort in the familiar that not only helps us to drop any pretentions we might have but to transport us back to younger times like a sort of nostalgia Tardis and like old friends it’s best not to over-indulge but to leave wanting more.

God of our past, present and future
Help us to value our oldest friends, those we see and those we haven’t for years. Thank you for the gift of our memories and for the stories of our childhood. Familiar friends and familiar words to encourage and to comfort.
Amen.