Focus On The Blessings Of The Present Moment

Today has been amazing! Its such a gorgeous day, extremely hot and sunny. I’ve only spent short bursts outside as my skin burns in the sun today – it’s that hot! I started the day with a lovely reading session out on the patio, the sun had just come round the wall and was slowly flooding my patio with light and heat.

I’ve been enjoying The Raggamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning lately, and today’s piece was quite fitting. It was a story about a monk who was being chased by a Tiger. He reached a cliff and saw a rope hanging over the edge, so he grabbed hold of it and climbed down.

While hanging there way above the rocks below and with the Tiger growling from above, he noticed a strawberry growing from between the rocks where he hung. He picked it and ate it… It was the best strawberry he’d ever tasted!

If he’d been worried about the Tiger (past) or the rocks below (future), he’d have missed the gift God had left him in the present moment.

We are told to be like children… They do not trouble themselves with the tigers of the past or the future, but focus only on the strawberry that is in front of them, here and now.

I thought that beautifully presented how I’ve been feeling – this desire to celebrate the ordinary, make each day marvelous, intentionally do something that makes me smile, celebrate every victory, no matter how small it may seem in the grand scheme of things.

God blesses us daily in so many ways if we only slow down enough to notice it. Stop to smell the roses.

After the reading, I played with my watercolour paints & read Hebrews 13. God will never leave us or forsake us, he is our helper. What a wonderful encouragement! You are never alone, my friends! Never.

Been lying on the bed with a wet towel on my head, resting for a few hours. Drinking loads of water and enjoying my celtic salt treatment. Had to remove my copper bracelets this afternoon as with this heat I’m sweating too much and it’s itching. Yuk!

Oh! I fell in love with the colours on my wreath, so I ended up painting my nails to match! My nails look like ice-cream now. Mint green and pastel pink.

If you’d like to check out this fantastic book, you can find it on Amazon. It’s full of insightful stories, aha moments and gorgeous photography.

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Note: a version of this was first published on Facebook or Instagram. Although this website was created quite a bit later, I wanted to have my whole chronic illness story in one place, so I have transferred it here and backdated it.