Today

Dappled trees on a rare sunny day outside of Belfast

"It is a moment of light surrounded on all sides by darkness and oblivion.  In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another just like it and there will never be another just like it again.  It is the point to which all your yesterdays have been leading since the hour of your birth.  It is the point from which all your tomorrows will proceed until the hour of your death.  If you were aware how precious it is, you could hardly live through it.  Unless you are aware of how precious it is, you can hardly be said to be living at all.

'This is the day which the Lord has made,' says the 118th Psalm. 'Let us rejoice and be glad in it.' Or weep and be sad in it for that matter. The point is to see it for what it is because it will be gone before you know it. If you waste it, it is your life that you're wasting.  If you look the other way, it may be the moment you've been waiting for always that you're missing.

All other days have either disappeared into darkness and oblivion or not yet emerged from them. Today is the only day there is."  -- Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life

This devotional meditation struck a real chord in me, and I think Buechner poetically reminds us of a truth that we oftentimes forget.  It is especially easy to forget here in Belfast, when many of my days are so filled with planning ahead and dizzying new sights, people, and ways of living that I overlook how precious my time here is.  How irreplaceable.  I pray that starting now, today, I will be mindful, and I won't take any of it for granted.   

Small moments in my first precious days of Belfast
 

Wild blackberries. Sour and seedy!

First day of work: AM meeting, PM sailing

Making tomato soup from scratch... Looks gross!

 

Ehh...  a little less scary after doctoring it up!

 A Litany of Thanksgiving

Today, I make my Sacrament of Thanksgiving
I begin with the simple things of my days:
Fresh air to breathe
Cool water to drink
The taste of food
The protection of houses and clothes
The comforts of home
For these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day.

-- Howard Thurman