Many of you know our black Labrador, Maddy. Her favourite toy is a ball and she loves going down Vicarage Lane and chasing after it. The look on her face each time she brings it back is priceless. She enjoys every throw as if it is the first. She doesn't get tired of the game until such times as she is literally worn out and lies down for a rest. I often think of how much the busyness of my life shuts out simple pleasures. I don't take time to relish and enjoy the pleasure each moment brings as I am so busy thinking about the next ten things to do. Maddy challenges me to stop and take time to enjoy the simple things that each moment brings. To embrace each moment as a gift which is why it is actually called "the present". Sadly we often only wake up to the gift of the present when we are faced with loss. We realise we don't have forever with someone we love when time is short, or we look back and wish we had spent the time we had with them in richer ways rather than squandering the time that we had. Jesus reminds us to take time to look at the flowers of the field, to take time to reflect and make the most of the present as a gift from God. I feel challenged each time I take Maddy out to slow down and to apply her attitude of sheer enjoyment as I go about the ordinary things of my life. Take time to really listen to a friend, take time to cook and enjoy a meal with family or friends, even take time to stop rushing between things, lift my head up and look around thanking God for the gift of the present. Brother Lawrence wrote a book called The Practice of the Presence of God long before the term mindfulness had become well known. He was not a hermit but the monastery cook and writes how in the busyness of the kitchen he tried to be aware of God and remain thankful for the privilege of cooking for his brother monks and found a way of remembering God while being busy with his pots and pans. The writer Jean Paul de Caussade also coined a wonderful phrase, the sacrament of the present moment. A sacrament is like the bread and wine in communion, ordinary things that can become windows onto God. If we are more present in the present then each moment, no matter what we are doing, can be a moment with God. So as you reflect on the things you do each day, maybe you could take time to pause and remember that God is with you and wants you to embrace what each moment brings. This does not mean each moment will be happy, some moments are profoundly sad or challenging, but with our eyes open to God we realise that he is with us sharing each moment, which means that our time becomes precious as each moment can reveal to us new things about the mystery of God. Sometimes this can bring the sort of joy I see in Maddy's face when I throw her ball. Sometimes being present means embracing difficult things and maybe having difficult conversations, but being aware of God means that all moments become times of meeting - with God, with each other and with ourselves.

Linda