Cats, Clotheslines & Courier packages

Grab the moment - #2

Another week and a different set of challenges. Sometime it seem life is full of the unexpected. At the start of the week husband Andrew spent three days in hospital with what turned out to be appendicitis. On Saturday I headed north to Whangarei for the funeral of a dear 102 year old friend. And all the dramas of the preceding weeks continued to coalesce. I am exhausted.

This week I invite attention to the moments when we first step outside of our house into the outdoors. There is something about being outside that draws me to prayer. That first step into fresh air is a moment when things shift. My body takes notice. My sensory receptors send messages to my brain. I feel it in my lungs as I draw breath, I feel it on my skin as the temperature change immediately hits. I see the sky, a ceilingless expanse above me, I hear the birds, the insects and sometimes even the roll of waves crashing on the beach. I smell morning, that mix of dew and dampness that belongs only to this part of the day. As I take in the first step of the day out of my house, I breathe in the outdoor air and I pray. I invite God to be with me in the day ahead, no matter what it holds. I pray God will guide me through whatever is ahead. I pray that I will show God’s love, grace, peace and hope to everyone I encounter.

I’ve been pondering what specific reasons get us outdoors first thing in the morning. While some of us might specifically go outside to greet the day, it’s more likely there is another reason. The reasons might be many, and possibly different on different days of the week. Perhaps we step outside to put the cat out, take the dog for a walk, feed animals, put the rubbish out or bring the bins in, hang clothes on the line, bring inside a courier package, pick fruit, go for a walk, go for a run or hop in the car to drive somewhere.

A sunrise wakening with Babs before 5am on a January morning on holiday at Awhitu Peninsula

These days the cat is the reason I open the door and head outside. The usual time is just at dawn. She cries to go outside as soon as the sky starts lightening. If I’m in bed she comes to wake me up. If I’m up and writing she’ll sit at my feet and howl until I take action. We have sat on the porch and looked at the stars fading. We’ve listened to the birds. We have watched many sunrises together. When she first started deciding it was my job to take her outdoors each day, I resented the cat’s wake up call, but now it is a welcome part of my early morning routine. I invite this call to the outdoors as an invitation to prayer. It’s an invitation to look up, to look around and to look out - beyond myself and into the day ahead, with God guiding me.

The heavens keep telling
    the wonders of God,
and the skies declare
    what he has done.
Each day informs
    the following day;
each night announces
    to the next.
They don't speak a word,
and there is never
    the sound of a voice.
Yet their message reaches
    all the earth,
and it travels
    around the world.

Psalm 19:1-4 (CEV)

This week I invite you to take notice of your first steps outside the house each day. If it’s not something you have any reason to do until later in the day, perhaps you might make an exception this week, and deliberately go outdoors to draw in a breath and pray to start your day soon after you wake up.

May God be with you at the start, during and end of each day.

On the journey

Caroline