Connection

There’s lots of interconnectedness all around us; sometimes we have to have a jolt to make us aware!

This photograph was taken last year at Cragside in Northumberland. Helen and I were walking in the woods below the house, when suddenly this little deer stepped into our vision; and ours into hers. We each stopped and looked, gazed, and did nothing for what seemed like a long time. Then each gently walked away. It was a connected moment, as I like to call these events,

Unarranged, not predicted, but profound in a very simple way. Each part of the created world; livng, breathing, sentient and alive. In an ideal world, I’d love to be able to ask the deer what she was thinking in that moment. Here’s some thinking from Psalm 24, and the opening verse; ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.’ There it is; connected, the creation, of which we and the deer are part.

These are simple, but powerful reflections from the Psalmist. We can try and qualify these words, be clever with our own interpretation, but ultimately there is an elegant simplicity, that we cannot avoid. That interconnectedness which got me catching my breath, as the deer and I observed one another. She, as vital a part of creation as each of us. Held in the gaze of the creator. Held as we gazed and made our connection.

Simple moments like these can have profound and long lasting effects; we just need to allow ourselves to embrace these, sometimes fleeting events. No matter how simple or insignificant.

May you be blessed in your observing and the connection it might bring, Connection with both the created and the Creator.