Remember, remember the 5th of November, Bible Study that night!

Then remember the 10th.... Fresh Expressions Conference. The 11th...Remembrance Sunday...17th...Cumbrian Churches Dementia Conference. The list goes on.

Yes, it’s busy for a lot of folks at this time of year and sometimes it can be good to be busy, particularly if you’re enjoying what you have to do. But the late autumn and start of the winter months can also be a time of some anxiety or emotional strain. I am always struck by my own contrasting feelings.

For me Autumn is, on the one hand, an exciting time of year. I always enjoy the beauty of the turning trees, the coziness of sitting by a warm fire as the temperature drops and the days grow shorter, and the anticipation of Christmas coming. But I’m also aware that I don’t fare particularly well with the shorter days, finding it a struggle to get up in the dark on winter mornings and I also find myself dwelling on difficult memories of lost loved ones as we ramp towards the fever of the inescapable commercial Christmas, with its promises of bigger, better spending power in shops adorned with glitter and sparkle, that impose an almost enforced happiness on us all.

I may sound a touch ‘Humbug!’ but I know I’m not alone.

There are many people who find this a difficult and lonely time of year. November is a time when we do well to pay attention to these feelings as it marks Remembrance season.

It is not morbid or negative to notice the triggers and reminders that make us sad, it is in honouring them that we truly appreciate the blessings we enjoy. Sometimes we’re in too much of a hurry to get to the good bits and dismiss the sad or difficult.

By the end of this month we reach Advent, traditionally a time of fasting and prayer with celebration only beginning at Christmas itself.

Now, largely because of commercial influence, Christmas fairs and parties begin by late November (long after the seasonal aisles of supermarkets have already filled with Christmas wares) such that, by Boxing Day, we’re left with a sense that the celebration is over, rather than just beginning!

I have to admit that I like the run up to Christmas as time of fellowship and fun rather than sobriety and sombre reflection. (I can’t imagine giving up mulled wine and mince pies during Advent, saving it all for Christmas Day!)

But I do think it important, before we get caught up in the jollity, that we take the ‘Remembrance Season’ in November seriously.

Not just in relation to Remembrance Sunday, but also personally, taking time to reflect on those more difficult memories and feelings that dwell in us at this time of year. We can bring these before God and know that we are held in his love in everything we experience.

Reverend Lucie Lunn, vicar of Aldingham, Dendron, Rampside and Urswick