This Moment

Earlier this month I spent a week on the island of Iona on the west coast of Scotland. This island is where St Columba first landed when he made his voyage from Ireland back in the 6th Century. The Abbey on the island has largely been restored and services are held there at least twice a day. 

The nunnery, on the other hand, lies in ruins.

At first I wondered why there had been no apparent attempt toward restoration or recovery - to put the stone slabs back together or pull the weeds from the walls. And then I wondered why I had this desperate need to return things to their former glory, as if a particular moment in time ought to be permanently preserved for fear of change. But lately I have been learning how to allow things to be what they are, when they are; delighting in each moment for all its familiarity as well as its diversity.

This place was a nunnery - it served that purpose for a moment in time. And now, now it serves a new purpose, and I can see the beauty of it. The rugged beauty of this outdoor garden, with its flowers that just seem to grow wild where they are without wandering all over the place, is just as meaningful and intentional and purposeful. This collection of stones was what it was, and is what it is.

May the bones of my body be the same: living each moment meaningfully and intentionally and purposefully. May this be true for you too. And may we allow ourselves to be changed by the one who is steady and unchanging, the one who is the beginning and the end, the one who says "I Am Who I Am".