蜜芽传媒

Spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Neil Gardner of Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh.

Good morning. Every so often I find myself travelling on a train heading east and then south out of Edinburgh. I always take a book for the journey, and a tablet to watch a film or read the paper or listen to music or do the crossword or answer emails. And I usually take a pen and paper to jot down my most profound thoughts for next week鈥檚 sermon. But for the first hour at least I completely ignore all of that and simply sit staring out of the window. The counties of East Lothian and Berwickshire are where I grew up and I love to look out at those familiar fields and coastlines rushing by, especially when the tracks cling so closely to the cliff tops that you can practically smell the sea, or a family of deer thinking themselves unobserved slip out from the edge of the woods to graze.

There鈥檚 a Scots word 鈥済laikit鈥� that accurately describes the way I sit staring glaikitly out of the window. It can mean 鈥渟illy鈥� but it can also mean thoughtless, without thinking, and I enjoy every minute of it, without thinking about anything in particular. I do turn eventually to the things I鈥檝e brought with me, until the great cathedrals of Durham and York and Peterborough catch my eye, and I just have to look out glaikitly once again. Whatever today brings your way and whatever the demands made of you, see if you can spend even a minute or two staring out of the window. And just savour the moment.

Lord help us in the midst of our busy lives every so often simply to be still and to know that you are God. Amen.