MANY of us will have been getting a bit nostalgic over recent weeks.
As we've shared in telephone calls or Zoom conversations with friends and workmates, we've commented on the fact that it has been a year since Covid changed our lives, many months since we have been able to enjoy some of the simple pleasures that we took for granted.
We've spoken of happy times of family celebration, of going to the cinema, of being able to meet together in simple carefree ways.
We've spoken about how much we miss them and how we're longing for the time when we can do those things again.
The memories of the past are sustaining us through the difficult days and giving us hope for the future.
The same was true for the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk many centuries ago.
His world was in a mess. His community had gone badly astray; there was no justice, violence was rampant and too many people seemed to think only about themselves.
He had cried out to God because it felt as if He had given up on his people and Habakkuk couldn't understand what God was doing.
As he complained to God, Habakkuk also listened.
He found himself thinking about the things that he knew about how God had behaved in the past.
As we live through tough times, many Christians find help and strength as we remember the times when God's goodness has been very obvious to us
He reminded himself of what he knew about the ways that God had cared for his people and protected them.
He called to mind how the Lord had acted decisively to save them from slavery in Egypt.
He looked at the evidence and recognised that God had demonstrated time and again that he was passionately committed to his people - even when those same people often forgot him and went astray. This was not a God who gave up on people.
With those things in mind, Habakkuk prays.
His prayer is a simple one: "Lord, I have heard of your fame, I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2).
As Habakkuk remembers the way God has shown his character of justice, mercy and love in the past, he prays that this same God will be powerfully seen in the present times.
As we live through tough times, many Christians find help and strength as we remember the times when God's goodness has been very obvious to us.
As the old gospel chorus says: "Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done."
In the dark days of Lent, we remember that Easter is just around the corner.
The God who saved his people so many times has provided a Saviour who brings lasting hope.
Bishop George Davison's Lent reflections can be found at connor.anglican.org.
