taking time to notice

Today has been a useful reminder of what this is all about, or why I am doing this (the questions I asked myself half-way through the day).

Things started well, with a slow walk along the canal to kill an hour before a pre-planned visit and in that hour I noticed many different types of wildlife: what looked like a pike, lurking in the reeds; a heron sitting on the bank; ducks paddling away in the water and, best of all, a fish jumping out the water in an attempt, I assume, to catch a fly. It was all pretty idyllic (despite the occasional floating bottle or can).

And then, meeting over, I headed into the city centre and began pacing around 'looking for God'. But of course, that is not how it works, and it was only after a few frustrated hours and the questions - what was I doing - that I caught on to what today was actually about.

I realised that the pointer for the day had been given early on and, as a result, I slowed down again and began to notice what was happening around me - and so I popped in to the little parish hall/community centre that I caught a glimpse of out of the corner of my eye and had a good chat with one of the volunteers, I smiled at people and they smiled back and then, as I ambled along, I came across a beautiful rose garden and took the picture of the day. So nothing dramatic, no great revelations, but simply finding God in things that might otherwise have passed me by.