F is for FEBRUARY

February, the shortest month of the year, even with its extra day and, quite frankly, only a stopping off point between the savages of winter and the first lights of a new spring. A bit of a non event, in fact, a month just to get out of the way and move on. A time when we almost stand still and just allow it to pass by before our eyes, but certainly not a memorable time or one to get too excited about. And anyway, nothing much ever happens in February. Or so I thought. Then I was drawn to a website that I often use when we are looking at special events that have happened on a particular day of the year and as I browsed through the happenings of today, I was attracted to yesterday and the day before and further back and forward until I had covered the whole month and suddenly realised that maybe it wasn’t such a quiet month down the years as I had envisaged. So here’s a selection of what February is famous for.

This was the month when TV detector vans took to the street for the first time and when the halfpenny appeared for the last time. When Nottingham Forest paid the first million pounds for a footballer and almost a whole team were killed in the Munich air disaster. When a plane also claimed the life of Buddy Holly and Sid Vicious lost his battle with drugs. When Charles became engaged to marry Diana and some years later asked Camilla the same question. When miners went on strike against Mrs. Thatcher and the IRA bombs struck in Aldershot, London, the Docklands, on a coach full of soldiers and kids and many times in Northern Ireland. When Russia’s MIR space station left earth and the Columbia shuttle exploded on its attempted return. When man played golf on the moon and the Beatles played for the first time in America. When John Glenn became the first American in space and Dolly the Sheep became the first cloned animal.

February was also the month when Princess Elizabeth became Queen and also buried her father, King George VI, when South Africa announced an end to apartheid and Nelson Mandela walked free from prison for the first time in thirty years. It was the month when Cassius Clay first became a professional boxing world champion and John Curry, Torville and Dean also boasted world success on ice. Also this month the hunting ban came into force and Foot and Mouth arrived with such force. When at last Britain became a decimal country and a big freeze reminded us that winter was far from over. It was a time when names, some famous and some always remembered would go down in history for a variety of reasons, like Malcolm X, Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, Jamie Bulger, Salman Rushdie, Stephen Lawrence, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein. It was a month when unrest would happen in places as diverse as Paris, Cyprus, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iwo Jima, Russia, Hebron, Morocco, New York, Kosovo, Beirut, Dresden, Baghdad, Assam, Spain and Belfast.

February is also the month that we remember in school, for strangely, and I suppose coincidentally, three of us have known bereavement to arrive on the twenty second day, though in different years and another will lay her dad to rest on that very date this year. So after all February is a month to remember and to reminisce and not always for the right reasons or even for the happiest of moments and I realise that we are not alone in our remembrances as others also recall something that makes the shortest month stick in their minds. Yet God remembers every single detail of our lives and as we reach these important anniversaries each year, He is there to comfort us through it all. How comforting then to also know that if we seek His salvation and repent of our sins He is just as willing to forget all those details of our lives that we would rather He didn't remember. As Paul writes in Hebrews 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.' I'm glad that even though I remember many of the things I've mentioned , God doesn't remember anything about my sinful past when He forgives me. Still, roll on March.