Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

The good news for this morning is that my mum is making progress in her post-surgical recovery. She is much less anxious, she is moving her new hip, and she is working with the folk from physical therapy. There is a good chance that, in the next couple of days, she will be able to make the switch over to rehab.

As I have been making the same drive, to the hospital and back, sometimes several times a day over the past week, I have been trying to keep my eyes open. What I mean by that is not so much watching the road while I am driving (always a good choice!) but trying not to be distracted – by news, by pressing concerns, by music even.

I have been trying to see more clearly, and to live more intentionally in the particular moment where I am – when I am.

These photographs – from the early morning mist on the road to the hospital building at night, to the waning light in the eastern sky, to pausing in the walkway outside the main entrance – all tell the story of what is important, what matters, what God wants me to pay attention to….

Eternity is, in a sense, all encapsulated in this moment. If we are not willing to pay attention now, to see God right in front of us, to be grateful and fully present in the amazing gift of simply being, then I believe we are in danger of squandering the most fundamental and present gift we have been given – the gift of today.

In love, and because love is not so much an imagined future as ours to receive right now – DEREK