One of the advantages of winter is that you don’t have to get up early to catch the sunrise!

Recently I was staying at Thornleigh Christian Hotel in Grange over Sands for a Cumbria Methodist Women’s residential. We had a past Vice President of the Methodist Church as our guest speaker and lots of time to share together during sessions, at mealtimes and at evening social events. Women are great at getting together and having a good chat!

But there were also times when I could be alone and feel the peace of the place, for example walking out along the promenade and looking over the estuary to Arnside and Morecambe and the distant hills of the Lake District. On the Wednesday morning at 7.30am I was walking across the bridge over the railway line and asked by a passing chap: Had I come to see the sunrise? As I looked, there across the bay the sun was peeping out over the horizon, turning the sky pink, then a sort of orange red. Rising quite rapidly into view, it became a huge glowing red ball reflected in the water of the estuary and shedding light on the surrounding area.

Who can say there isn’t a God, when we can marvel at such an amazing sight? We do live in a troubled world but God our Creator will not forget us. Cling onto that knowledge as you, too, recall the sunrises you have seen in all their glory.

May God bless your day.
Delphine Gratrix, Sandylands Methodist Church, Kendal