A year has come and now on this last day of 2013 I am still a bit in denial that we are at its end! It is hard to believe that today is New
Year’s Eve. Looking at the title of
this blog, “Eat, Savour, Linger, Live”, those words are so appropriate to how
this year began, how it was lived out, and how this last day is unfolding. We will light candles around the labyrinth
in our garden, and together with a few friends, we will take this meditative
walk to finish our year. There will be
food on the table, as we come in out of the damp dreary day. We will linger at
the table, with the inside fire on keeping us warm. Laughter, gratitude and words of life will be
shared as we sit down together around the heavy oak dining table that is now
well over 80 years old.
The words that have come at the beginning of the last few
years – “listen”, “pilgrimage”, “transformation”, are all part of the theme of
my life, hospitality. Hospitality it
seems is so much more than just gathering people around your table for a meal,
or sharing coffee with a friend. I find
myself looking at how much deeper it goes, connecting so many pieces of life,
mine and others, their stories and mine.
Do I offer myself hospitality, that welcoming within, in my times of
solitude? Am I willing to be open to
the surprises and unexpected changes that come along the way?
There are so many more questions than answers as I continue
to hold what these words, Listening, Pilgrimage and Transformation, are opening
up and showing me. Clearing away ‘stuff’
that surrounds life, I am more drawn to a simplicity of life that finds
delightful surprises and wonder.
It’s a bit like clearing away all those dead leaves that
have been lying on the labyrinth. David
has been gently raking it today, in the fog and drizzle, so that the stones
that mark all the paths are visible. Now
its simple path, that is meant to be walked slowly and meditatively, is visible
and ready for us to walk tonight.
We will continue to eat and nourish our bodies and
souls. We will continue to savour the
moments, the flavours, the colours, the sounds and the smells of life. We will linger more over conversations and
be surprised by what we find. Most of
all, we will continue to find those places of life that speak of abundance,
beauty, hope and simplicity.
To Life!
