Last month, I ticked off one more item from my bucket list; I descended Gaping Gill. Gaping Gill is one of the most spectacular underground caverns in the country. It is 300 feet from its opening to the bottom, a cavern the size of a cathedral and several water falls descending from the top. The easy way is to go down on a winch, which is what I did with a friend. I am very pleased I did it; I look back on the experience with great enjoyment. And yet, at the time, my reaction was more muted. Yes, it was spectacular, but I have been in big underground caverns before. It has been an experience I have needed time to process, to look back on and reflect, to fully appreciate it. Sometimes if we want instant gratification we will be disappointed; we need to wait and contemplate. Yesterday, talking about something completely different with a colleague, she sent me this email; “Perhaps it’s like most things the harder you try the further away it gets and the more it alludes you. Perhaps we should all quietly sneak up on it.” You can’t exactly sneak up on Gaping Gill, but the full satisfaction of going down it has quietly sneaked up on me. And, because I’m a vicar and I try to see God in everything, I also know this to be true of my spiritual life. I regularly pray, I try to actively think about God (sitting on a winch over a 300 foot drop is conducive to this), but so often, at the time, I feel nothing. Then, hours, perhaps days later, God quietly sneaks up on me.