Making the most of winter

This afternoon three Royal Sovereign Spoonbills are on our beach at Te Haumi. These majestic creatures are not common in this country, a few having straggled across from Australia ages ago. But a small colony breeds at Okarito along with our own rare Kotuku or White Heron. And at this time of the year they move around the country a little but mainly in the south.

We don’t need these majestic visitors to remind ourselves that it is winter. Our little town is very quiet. Motels and restaurants are putting out bargain signs and the early evenings are coaxing us indoors to watch more television or read more books than usual.
It’s Matariki, of course, the beginning of the Maori year. It’s time in which skills are celebrated and generous meals shared from the last of the autumn harvests. The Gen-I Summit here last weekend shared such a meal last weekend and, by all accounts, was a great demonstration of the people preparing and presenting it.
Matariki is also a time for consolidating experience, a kind of “retreat” from the everyday with time to reflect and learn. Retreats are a universal tradition and deeply rooted in the bible. We have heard recently of Elijah’s 40 days and we know how retreat times were important for Jesus.
We should take these examples into our own lives and make the most of this precious time of the year. Its different demands on our lives and energies are a gift in our busy times, a time for re-Creation and refreshment.
Make the most of it!