An early morning walk

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;	5
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:	10
Praise him.

- Gerard Manley Hopkins

This morning when Sheba and I went for a prayer walk around the 'chukkar' at the top of the hill we saw ample evidence of this.  Drinking in the beautiful colours of God's creation, breathing in the cool air, exulting in His goodness to us over the years.  What can you do but praise when you see the wonders of His hands at work - in the tiniest of flowers and the mightiest of cedars?

the towers of human ingenuity are humbled by the living miracle of a tree...

The song-writer, many millenia ago wrote "what is man that you are mindful of him?"

As we walked praying we lived in multiple spaces at once... amazed and delighted by the play of colour of the new day, remembering the past with joy and some sorrow, being refreshed and renewed by the joy of being together and celebrating in the presence of our holy God...

My beauty - as the sun comes up

There is something very vital about getting up early and seeing a new day.  Especially up in the mountains.  The impossibly blue sky and the piercing brightness of the yellow wash of the new-day sun remind us piercingly of the newness of each day, the blank slate on which our lives are being written in the present.


I for one don't want to go back to Thane.  At least not yet.

The very thought of going 'down the hill' in a week or so hangs like a small distant black cloud.

In the mean-time however, we are blessed to be here.  To drink in the deep cool mountain air.  To be able to pray and praise.  To play endless rounds of badminton and 'baseball' with the kids.

To bask in the love of Oma and Opa - and be refreshed for the next steps forward.

"Glory be to God for dappled things..."