Dear friends,
In this meditation I want to share with you some reflections which came to me in the course of a visit to a monastery just a little while ago.
I came across an interesting scene.
This was in the course of walking through the gardens surrounding the monastery.
Isn't it interesting how we can so easily come across something which provides food for thought and reflection afterwards.
But as this is a meditation rather than a straight talk,
I'd like if we could begin by taking a few moments to bring ourselves into the here and the now.
Letting ourselves become really present and leaving aside the worries of the day.
So please make sure you're comfortable and that you are sitting in a relaxed position.
Feet firmly on the floor so as to ground you and a reasonably alert stance as you sit in your chair or on your cushion.
You may close your eyes if you wish but the important thing is to relax.
As you breathe in bring your attention to your breath and notice that you are breathing in.
At the same time as you breathe out really holding in your awareness the fact that you are breathing out.
Isn't it extraordinary how we can go through life breathing in and out the good air on which our lives depend and yet unless we pay attention the wonderful gift of this life-giving air can remain unnoticed and unappreciated.
So now to remedy that situation let's have a one minute pause during which we will try as best we can to be gratefully aware of our breathing in and our breathing out.
But what if your mind wanders?
No worries at all.
If you notice that your attention has drifted away from the fact of your breathing just gently bring yourself back and try again.
Welcome back.
So now to the incident in the monastery garden.
What was noticeable most of all was the bird song.
My visit to the garden was in March not exactly the time of the year when you'd expect to hear a dawn chorus.
But nevertheless the birds were singing away.
You couldn't help but call to mind the line of a well-known song referring to our feathered friends at the start of day telling us to start again.
It was wonderful to sit down and listen to this natural concert.
In the course of my walk I entered a section of the garden in the middle of which there was an old fountain.
The top basin of the fountain was filled with water which was dripping slowly drop by drop into a lower basin.
As each drop hit the water below it produced a ripple which extended out to the edge of the lower basin.
The process continued more or less second by second and the ripples went out from each falling drop second by second by second.
Let's have a pause now while I play you a recording of what I heard.
You might like to close your eyes if they're not already closed and allow yourself to be transported through time and space to the scene in that Benedictine monastery garden in the south of Ireland.
Welcome back again.
That walk and that fountain holds some lessons for us all.
First of all gratitude for the hospitality of places such as this which allow us to spend time there in reflection and in nature.
Gratitude to technology which allows us to capture moments like this so they can be shared with others.
Gratitude for inside timer which allows me to tell you this story.
Gratitude too for this wonderful existence of ours and for my own existence and for the ability of each of us to pause,
To stop and to notice.
And of course gratitude for our feathered friends.
Their enthusiastic song reminded me of words from the Gospel of Saint Matthew in the Christian tradition.
Look at the birds of the air.
They do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?
Of course we all have a part to play in looking after ourselves.
Working for a living if we have the ability to do so and providing for ourselves and for those we love.
These actions on our own part are important but isn't it true that we can allow ourselves to be overcome with fear about the future rather than simply taking the steps we can take?
Can we be less fearful and more hopeful?
Maybe we can take comfort in the words we find in the hymn Amazing Grace.
Through many dangers,
Toils and snares I have already come.
Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.
And finally those ripples.
Just as each falling drop caused a ripple to extend to the edge of that lower basin in the monastery garden,
I was reminded that all our actions send out ripples into the world.
How important it is that the ripples we send out should be good ones.
Ripples that build up rather than knock down.
Ripples of love and kindness and compassion moving out from us into the great world beyond and making a difference for the better.
Sometimes when we reflect back over past years we realise that we have not done so well.
We've not done enough.
We can be troubled and discouraged by our past failures.
So many things done that we regret.
So many kind words left unsaid.
So many good opportunities lost.
These failures of the past can act as a break on our good activities.
They can mount up to a heavy load that we can find ourselves carrying.
But just as the birds in the monastery garden sing at the break of day,
Tell us we have an opportunity for renewal.
We can release that break.
We can let down that heavy burden.
We can begin again.
What we are today and what we will be tomorrow are far more important than what we were yesterday.
So take heart.
Never hesitate to begin again and again as necessary.
So as to play your unique part in the drama of life.
May we all be well.
May we all be happy.
May we all experience love and peace.
And may the precious gift of the life of each one of us make a difference and help build a new and better tomorrow.
Namaste.
