'The real value of ease cannot be appreciated without having known pain, nor of sweetness without having tasted bitterness, nor of good without having seen evil, nor even of life without having passed through death.' (Sadhu Sundar Singh). Read: John 12:20-36. The meeting of Jesus with a group of Greeks is the setting for one of the most important Christian concepts: we die to live, as Jesus must die for us to live eternally. The Greeks' search for Jesus came as another temptation to short-cut the way to the world's renewal and have a mission without a cross. Jesus, in his prayer, voiced the stark choice facing him: should he avoid 'this hour', or glorify the Father by dying? It's a battle we often face too, in small or ultimate ways. Meditate: When the seed is put into the ground, and the earth is heaped onto it, there is a 'dying' before germination and life. Imagine you're the seed. The feeling of entombment in the earth is aweful - it's black, lonely, cold, dark and damp. The outer shell protects the soft inner kernel. What is that shell for you? What kinds of protective devices have you built around your real and tender 'self'? Imagine the Father-gardener breaking open that outer shell, and exposing your bruised self to the elements. But then new life comes - reaching for the light, reaching up towards the sky, a plant or tree of beauty and fruitfulness...

'There is no life except through death... This is the way the Master trod... shall not his servant tread it still?' Amen.