Musings

I must confess, I woke up this morning feeling grumpy and coming down with another cold, sick and tired of the winter... Then I read this reminder of how blessed I am. Blessed beyond words. Blessings If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who won't survive the week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 20 million people around the world. If you attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than almost three billion people in the world. If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. If you hold up your head with a smile

As we go through life, the small moments logged in our memories are creating that mosaic of life experience which we will take with us into eternity. I love small moments. The one I want to share with you this morning is about the barefooted young man in the picture. We were in a banana plantation village not far from Tanuku, Andhra Pradesh to visit some Christian friends. Word of mouth in India is still faster than Wi-Fi, Skype or Twitter as we were swiftly surrounded by a cluster of giggling children. I noticed a young man staring at us from a short distance. He lowered his shy gaze, then plucked up courage and approached us. He spoke to me in an unintelligible language (Telugu) and my Indian friends quickly interpreted: he's asking you for a Bible . I handed him the blue, soft-back Bible someone had pressed into my hands. I will never forget the smile that lit up his face and my heart.

Yesterday, I was contemplating the importance of spiritual health in a world so obsessed by materialism and consumerism. At the risk of sounding Scrutonesque, I concluded that observing beauty is an integral part of spirituality. Our spirits soar within and a light enters our being when our eyes behold an object of resplendent beauty. This might be in the form of a delicate butterfly, a majestic painting or a ray of light on a crisp, winter morning. The older I get, the more I consciously look for beauty. I may be accused of escapism, but I think this is what keeps me sane in the face of realism. The day my spirit is not inspired is a dark day. It appears that the world is trying to fill us with darkness and pessimism - just watch the news for five minutes or go to a modern art gallery where ugliness is presented as art. The majority of our cities are ugly, vulgarity prevails in our songs, films and theatres, nothing is sacred anymore. If this is where we keep our focus, our spirits w