Glory!

Glory!

March - the month when a hare, normally a shy reclusive animal, comes out into the open in search of a mate and will fight off any rival in what looks like a boxing match!  Hence the saying "mad as a March hare".  To celebrate the beginning of spring I want to share this wonderful painting of a hare by the 16th century German artist, Albrecht Durer.  Its exquisite detail lets us think that we could reach out today and stroke its fur and whiskers (if it let us!) - and yet the painting dates back to 1502, almost 500 years ago! 

 I'm publishing this, my March post, a day early - on 29 February, the date which occurs only once every four years. Starting from 1940, that makes it my 21st Leap Year Day.  Maybe I should be having a party to celebrate this special occasion!  However, it is about another special experience that I want to write today...  I'm calling it 'Glory!'

It happened on Good Friday, the year after the death of my dear husband, Bob.  Our son Michael, aged 15, was going on a school trip to Greece, so, as his two older sisters both had jobs, I was free to go off by myself.

I had decided that it was time to go back to Germany to refresh my German conversational vocabulary.  But where exactly would I go?  The country was still divided into East and West, so it had to be a town in West Germany.  Having already spent time in Hanover in the north and Freiburg in the south, I wanted to choose somewhere in between.

  On the map I caught sight of Fulda and remembered reading that it had a special 'feel' about it.  That would do!  I booked into a hotel there - but as I knew nobody in the town I had to think of how to find someone to chat with.  I wrote to the town's tourist office, asking to be put in touch with a local pastor, who then referred me to a lady in his congregation.  Christel had sent me a friendly letter, inviting me to supper at her home on the evening of my arrival by train from Frankfurt.

So, when I boarded the Prestwick - Frankfurt plane that morning I was full of excitement - and mixed emotions.  This was the first time that I had travelled alone, after twenty-three years of married life. Now, as a widow, I was heading into the completely unknown - in more ways than one.

Moreover, I was very nervous about being in an aeroplane!  My only previous experience had been as a child in a ten-minute "joy ride" in a tiny plane from Prestwick Airport over Ayr Bay.  I had been terrified out of my wits!  Now I was praying "Please, God, bless this flight.  Keep us all safe, and please give me courage, so that I don't panic!"  Trembling, I fastened my seat belt and waited nervously for the plane to rev up and start moving.  With a roar of the engine it gathered speed - and then came lift-off!  To my astonishment, I suddenly felt full of joyous elation, wanting to jump up, wave my arms in the air and shout "YES!"

Now my window seat no longer felt scary.  Instead, I was fascinated by my new view of Ayrshire from above, trying to identify each town and village before we quickly left them behind.  Up we soared into the clouds, then rose right above them, where to my delight there was blue sky and sunshine.  Marvellous!

Sometimes the clouds were like wispy white cotton wool, then grey cumulus ones would appear, indicating rainfall below.  As we flew on above the clouds, I turned my attention to my maps of Frankfurt and Fulda and to Christel's letter, thinking of the challenges ahead. Closing my eyes, I silently asked God for help. 

When I opened  my eyes again I glanced out of the window - then stared in wonder at an awesome sight!  On a cumulus cloud some distance away there appeared the black shadow of our plane as it moved along, completely surrounded by a circular rainbow.  How beautiful, how amazing, how comforting!

Later I learned that this is known as 'pilot's glory', although it was first reported many years before air travel by mountaineers who had been standing high enough up to look down on clouds, with the sun behind them.  If you have never been lucky enough to see it, you can find it in photographs and videos online.  As you can see, I am no artist, but have tried drawing it, to give you an idea of what it is like.

Of course there were, that day, many other people on the plane, half of whom were sitting on the opposite side and were therefore completely unaware of this awesome sight.  And even those sitting on the same side as myself might not notice it, or if they did, might just dismiss it as a not-uncommon optical phenomenon, caused by sunlight interacting with the tiny water droplets that compose clouds.

But for me on that particular day it came as a blessing, a symbol of God's love and grace, surrounding me wherever I was destined to go in my new life ahead.  Over the thirty-two years since then I have travelled many times by air but have never again caught a glimpse of the beautiful rainbow circle with the shadow of the plane in its centre.

Rather than as "pilot's glory" I prefer to think of it gratefully as "God's Glory", reminding me of God's loving care which silently surrounds each of us, whether or not we are aware of it.

'For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the GLORY.  Amen'

Deo gratias