Partly Cloudy and God-With-Us

Today I sit at the kitchen table with the kettle on, watching a sky that can’t decide between bright or brooding, and thinking about how “partly cloudy” fits both our weather and our world. With flu wards under strain and budgets tightening again, I turn to Mary’s hurried visit to Elizabeth and the quiet miracle that happens in an ordinary doorway. I reflect on Immanuel, God-with-us, showing up in small acts of brother-and-sister kindness: in hospitals, supermarkets, and at the kitchen table. I remember my mother’s instinct to put the kettle on whenever there was a “knock in the wind”, and I wonder how each of us might gently warm one small corner of the world today.