21st December 2018

I started today badly. There was so much I wanted to achieve but I had a four hour commitment to help with a Christmas-themed meditation labyrinth as part of the chaplaincy team. I rushed around taking children to school, making Christmas truffles and then getting myself over to the hospital. As I stood in the lift up to the area we were holding the labyrinth I was worried we were wasting our time and I prayed, very simply, for God to be present and to use this time.

The experience was stunning. We had a steady flow of visitors, staff and patients, who engaged with the labyrinth and other mindfulness activities. As someone stepped onto the labyrinth they were told to do so with intention, the labyrinth is asking us "what do you want me to do for you?" as Jesus asks Bartimaeus.

It took me a couple of hours to fix my mind upon what I wanted from the labyrinth, but it struck me that what I needed was peace and perspective, and that's what I received.

I still get caught up so much in the "I shoulds" of Christmas that I still lose sight of the one thing thst matters and that's love, love divine, love so strong that the divine creator came to live a human life.

Love, I love You because You’re full of joy! You’re a Mother nourishing the kindnesses in us as if we are children at Your breast (and we are). You’re rich beyond anything I can ever imagine. You’re so rich that the soul clothed in You can never be poor. You share Your every gift with us and even give our souls Your beauty because You make us one with You. St. John tells us that God is love, and anyone who lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
Catherine of Siena.

For my kindred and companions’ sake,
I will pray that peace be with you.
Psalm 122.8