The beginning of a new day

The early morning sun streams over the roofs of the buildings illuminating everything caught in its path. Birds flutter on the 'bird of paradise' plant seeking sweet nectar. The cool air is refreshing with temperatures slowly rising above the 5C they were overnight. Shadowed areas are cold. Sunlight areas are warm. It is the transition from summer to winter in Gauteng.

Sweater, jacket and cap ensure the warmth of my body is retained as I quietly sit in the one sunlight spot on the stoep of our flat. The day is dawning and the moment presents an opportunity for quiet attentiveness. I am enveloped by a stillness that will soon shatter with waking life. It is a unique moment suspended between emerging consciousness and the hubbub of human activity.

Too often we run into the day demands descending from every side. Do this, write that report, listen, respond to so and so. Solve that problem, hear, care, understand...... Without a focused centre we soon become derailed. Eager to serve and do good but unfocused and distracted. Running around till we are exhausted, accomplishing what?

It is time for a steaming cup of tea to calm the nerves and warm the throat. Quietness descends in my mind - no one has yet woken, and I take a deep breath, then another, and another. Spurious thoughts are banished and a calm spreads through my being. It is only the beginning and in that undisturbed moment of stillness I can know myself and my space in this day. I can be still, I can be aware, I can be centered ,and I can give thanks for life within and life around me. Amen & amen!

The birds soar away, satisfied with their nectar, the sun gives warmth, and the sounds of a new day begin. Slowly I rise and wander through the garden, content to just be present, grateful for health, for strength, for the gift of life and another day.