Fresh air is a wonderful thing!


I love paths stretching ahead of me.
Maybe it's the sense of the unknown?
Like most of us my son Chris and I are practising our social distancing.  Which is fine, and we are very happy to do it.  But today we decided to take advantage of the advice to get some exercise in the open, while keeping a distance from others.

We put a highly excited dog in the car (he really doesn't seem to understand what is going on lately, can't think why) and set off for a walk on Mousehold Heath. It's a place we've driven past many times, but never stopped at.  And we had a fabulous hour.

There were more people than we expected, and we found ourselves stepping off the path on several occasions to give people their space, and others did the same for us. There were many smiles and friendly greetings, but a sense of the strangeness of all this really did hang over everything.  I have to admit that my dog George, along with all other four legged walkers totally failed in all social distancing, but he's an old dog and it's a new trick.  We will work on it.




Every day in Morning Prayer I say 'As we rejoice in the gift of this new day....'

It's easy to forget how much there is to rejoice in.  Life is usually so busy that we miss the small things.  Today I truly rejoiced in the sun on my face, the chance to stretch my legs, the laughter of my son, and the slight madness of my dog.  And the sheer beauty of the area in which I was walking.  From the sunlight dappled paths, to the sky with more than enough blue to make a pair of sailors trousers.  And even the fungus on the tree stump was beautiful with its intricate pattern.  It was impossible to not feel hopeful, despite all that is happening around us.

But I know for many, this afternoon will have brought anxious times of watching and waiting, stress in dealing with people in shops, and pressure working in the NHS and other critical services.  In an hour or so I will be saying Evening Prayer and I will remember all those whose afternoon was spent so differently to mine, and pray for God's blessing upon us all.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Simple things....

Image
I'm no gardener.  It's not that I don't love a garden, I do.  But I never have the time to give to make a garden what I want it to be.  And yet my garden grows.  Specifically, right now my garden grows the most beautiful roses.  I don't deserve them - I wouldn't know how to care for a rose even if I had the time - and yet here they are, undeserved and beautiful, and a sudden and simple joy when I stepped outside a few days ago.  And I'm not the only one enjoying them.  Can you see the tiny insect absolutely loving his or her time on the flower.  I spent ages just watching it walking around, relishing  the colour of the flower and the face of the little insect. Can insects smile?  This one seems to! I had another special moment recently.  In the last few weeks the rules for shielding have changed and I am allowed to leave the house if I stay away from other people. So at a suitably quiet time we found a back route to a quiet part of ...
Read more

And the light shines in the darkness

Image
Last week myself and the wardens of our churches went round and locked our buildings. It was so hard to do, and I can’t think of a time when our congregations - and clergy - were unable to enter these holy spaces.  It hits harder in communities like ours where we are blessed to be able to leave our churches open each day. As I was about to lock St Mary’s church in Wroxham, I stopped and ran back in and took these photographs with my phone.  This is the sanctuary light, showing the real presence of Christ in our building. I could have turned it off; maybe I should have; but I left it lit - a symbol of our faith and our continuing worship and prayer. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not, and will not overcome it.
Read more

Sunday.....

I have commented to several people in the last week that it is all too easy at the moment to lose track of days. The regular structure of my week is gone, and days can easily slide into one another. It matters more to me that the weather enables me to get into the garden for part of a day, that what the name of that day actually is!  Except for Sunday.  Somehow, Sunday still stands out. Despite not being able to go to church, or meet people, Sunday is still the day when I feel closest to you all.  Each Saturday evening I become aware of the fact that I’m not getting ready for the next day in the way I usually would - making sure my robes are ready, checking my sermon, saying the prayers and reading the Psalms that prepare me for leading worship. Gradually though, I have rebuilt my structures; the prayers and the Psalms came back in, though altered slightly to reflect the different way we ‘meet’ now, and I mark Sundays at home in small ways that keep you all especially ...
Read more