The Epworth & Belton Group of Churches

Reflection for May 2026 - Held in the Waiting: Trusting God’s Gentle Timing

There’s something quietly hopeful about May, isn’t there? The hedgerows are greening, gardens are waking up, and the days stretch just that little bit longer. In our group of parishes, you can sense life stirring again—in familiar routines, in conversations at the school gate, in the gentle rhythm of parish life.

Recently, I found myself waiting at a set of temporary traffic lights here on the Isle. You know the sort—roadworks, a short stretch of single lane, and everyone taking turns (usually!). At first, it felt like an inconvenience, a pause in the day and I checked my watch to calculate the arrival time at my next appointment. But as the lights stayed red, something shifted. Engines idled or stopped, people waited, and there was a kind of quiet order to it all. No one pushing ahead, no one rushing through—just a shared understanding that, in time, the lights would change and each would be able to continue their journey.

It made me think how much of life, and faith, involves waiting like that. Not wasted time but held time. Time in which something is being made ready, even if we can’t quite see it yet.

May invites us into that gentle patience. Growth is happening—in us, in our community, in the wider world—but not always at the pace we might choose. And yet, God is present in the waiting as much as in the moving.

That feels especially important as we approach Christian Aid Week (10–16 May). In a world that often feels urgent and overwhelming, it reminds us that steady, faithful action still matters. Each gift, each prayer, each act of compassion is part of God’s work of renewal—like those patient moments at the lights, contributing to something that serves the good of all.

The words of Scripture offer quiet encouragement: “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). There is a promise here—not of instant change, but of faithful fruit in God’s time.

So, this May, perhaps we learn to see waiting differently. Not as frustration, but as space—space where God is still at work, preparing, shaping, and guiding.

And so, we move forward with quiet trust, knowing that the God who holds all things in his timing is faithful, and that even in the pauses, his purposes are unfolding.

A prayer

Loving God,
in our waiting, be our peace.
When we feel delayed or uncertain,
help us to trust in your perfect timing.
Give us patient hearts and steady faith,
that we may continue in love and hope.
And lead us forward in your grace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

With every blessing for May

Paul

Revd Canon Paul Wilson

Rector of the Epworth Group of Churches

Priest-in-Charge of the Belton Group of Churches

Assistant Curate of the Crowle Group of Churches and the Haxey and Owston Ferry Plurality

Rural Dean of the Isle of Axholme Deanery