Now

Today there was snow. It was promised yesterday, but we get so little that I hardly dared to believe. I always wait for it to arrive.

Something woke me at 4am. Nothing sudden, but a strange pre – dawn light shone through my bedroom curtains. I had to looked. Snow! Silently, gently, endlessly it was falling. It rested on trees, bushes, roofs, gardens. I gazed in wonder at the muffled wonderland.

When I got up later I could hear chatter and giggles in the street outside. Children shrieked as they were pulled on toboggans, dogs snuffled and yapped, snowballs thudded. The snow had brought light, laughter, and a welcome lilt to the usual monotony of Sunday lockdown.

I headed to the local park. It was mid morning and the clouds were parting to reveal a clear azure sky. Acres of grassland were tinted with icy blue. The larch, the redwood, the fir were all dressed in smooth ermine, elegant and magical, like Jane Austen ladies arriving at a winter ball. It was breath taking, ethereal. People were dotted everywhere: walking, running, sliding, falling; standing and watching.

As I looked closer I noticed that so many were taking photos. So was I. It was a moment I wanted to capture and look back on. The light and sights were so unique. I needed some sure memories for later. Keats talked of ‘slow time’ on the Grecian Urn and a photograph is a modern attempt to slow and preserve time, to manage it. Tomorrow this glittering world would be gone; it would vanish as silently as it came. Water droplets were already trickling off branches; fields of snow were being ripened by midday sun. They evaporated into a dazzling mist before our eyes.

I am old enough to have seen a fair few snowy days! The snow was as it ever was: built into snowmen, kicked in the air, thrown as snowballs. It was cold and sparkly, dazzling and mysterious, gentle and beautiful. It was as I have experienced before. I have photos from other snowy days, just as special. I could have avoided the cold and stayed home with my photo books, my memories of other snowy days.

But… I would have missed today’s magic. Thoughts were shared, sights were seen, sounds were heard that were unique to today. No matter how hard I try, it will never be today again. And today I relished all the immediate delights of now, here, this. Now is the miracle that I am living in.

Eckhart Tolle said “If there is no joy, ease, or lightness in what you are doing, it does not necessarily mean that you need to change what you are doing. It may be sufficient to change the how.….Give your fullest attention to whatever the moment presents” (The Power of Now, 1999,p 56)

The people of the Exodus 16 were told to gather manna for one day. They had no supermarkets, cupboards or fridges. God sent them bread, unique bread from heaven – manna. It fell from the sky each day – like snow. The people took what they needed for that day. Thanked God for it. Trusted He’d provide more tomorrow. Enjoyed today. If they tried to take too much, to same some for tomorrow, it would go mouldy.

The miracle of snow today reminded me that now is the most important moment of my life. To look about me and see the wonders of this day. Like the snow, it does not last forever. There is indeed a time for ‘was’ and for ‘will be’, but often they crowd out ‘is’. What is in front of me now? Who is next to me? What sound is filling my ears. What is that smell? What can I reach and touch and notice … right now. This moment is a miraculous gift…it is the present.