As we approached the King's Cross/St Pancras culmination of our walk we passed the newly restored gas holder located just by the canal. Now disused it has been restored - at least its skeleton frame - the actual gas holding part is long gone. The sign beside it said each section of the structure had been transported to Yorkshire to be sand blasted and restored to colour scheme twenty (apparently they discovered it had been repainted no less than twenty eight times!) Now back in place it's an impressive structure - a landmark and a 'listed building' in its own right. Beneath its lattice work a 'park' is evolving - a new life and function very different from its industrial past - a 'transformation'.
I think something similar is happening today with the Scottish vote. When we wake up tomorrow we'll know the result - but in a way I think we already know that it will never be the same again. This referendum has let some sort genie out of its bottle and a sort of transformation is now clearly focused and unstoppable.
The truth is that none of us stand still - we are all in the business of transformation. Every experience and encounter moulds and changes us in some way.
This weekend I'm preaching at the Church Anniversary of a congregation where I used to be the minister. In the years since I've left them they will have journeyed on and changed. Part of me expects to find them as I left them! But that simply won't be the case. They, like me, have been on a journey and for one service I join them to renew our friendship and wish them well for the next step.
Life, it seems, is about living in constant transition.
With best wishes,
Ian
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