14 March – Rev’d Dr. Susie Collingridge, Associate Vicar of Steep and Froxfield with Privett

Re-Starting Our Hearts

“You’re on mute, Uncle Bob!” Our online family conversations are spent tangling with technology – people can’t join the chat or screens are blank. When it all goes wrong, there’s always, “Try turning it off and turning it on again” It’s amazing how often that works!

It can even work with the human body – many people suffer from wonky heart rhythms (not the medical term). In one treatment – a cardioversion – experts stop the heart and restart it, to get it back to its proper beat. Whoever first tried that must have been very brave!

In winter plants sleep and seem dead for months, until days start getting longer. Things that were dormant start coming to life again. We know it won’t be long until warmer summer days. This natural re-start gives us hope, doesn’t it?

Even more so this year as we gradually emerge from lockdown, blinking in the sunlight.

I hope in our ‘restart’ we will keep some good new things – maybe keeping in touch with neighbours or family, or helping the food back, or supporting carers, and so much more, with our human hearts at their best, beating with kindness.