Footsteps

I've just been looking at a video of our grand-daughter walking quite confidently across the lounge in her home, and chattering away as she does it. In a year's time, the fact that she can walk and talk will be something we'll all be taking for granted, but just now (she's aged 14 months) it's still a marvel.

I've got a foot on my desk, and I'm looking at it now as I write this. No, not one of my own feet - if I ever was that athletic, I am no longer - this is a little foot, less than an inch long, made out of coloured glass, and it was given me at a conference I attended, as a sign of pilgrimage I think, and to remind us that, as disciples, we should be on the move, using our feet (and using them for more than just to stand on).

Having said that, perhaps my foot could also be a sign of our need sometimes to slow down to walking pace, not to take things too fast, to give ourselves the time and the space to enjoy the view. How much can you see, or understand, when travelling at speed? The journey is as important as the destination (and that, too, is a good pilgrimage sentiment to keep hold of).

And can I also remind myself, as I turn back to look again at that lovely video, not to allow things that really are marvellous and beautiful and good to become just ordinary? Slow down, take a break, look around you, take in the sights and the sounds . . . see if you can't get back to those used-to-be days when the things you now take for granted were still special and wonderful. Then give thanks for it all.