Another beautiful summer day here in Aotearoa – the land of the long white cloud. Too lovely to be inside following up on yesterday’s lost post, so I decided to clean the silver.
After my family got over the shock, I sat on the back doorstep in the shade and settled down to my task. The boys were both out and my daughter was busy elsewhere in the house. The only company I had for the timebeing was a lazy cat enjoying himself in the sun and the Tuis and other birds calling loudly in the trees.
And then I thought of the passage from Lost Horizon by James Hilton. If you haven’t read the book it is about a group of four people who are attempting to escape a civil war. They are kidnapped and transported to the Tibetan mountains. After their plane crashes, they are found by a mysterious Chinese man who leads them to a monastery hidden in “the valley of the blue moon”. Here in a land of beauty and mystery life is lived far beyond and out of the reach of the world that is heading into another World War. It is here, in Shangri-La,that the destinies of these four travellers are unveiled against a backdrop of peace and tranquility..
And now the name Shangri-La has become synonymous with a place of peace and harmony far from the modern world.
Well back to the passage that came to mind while doing such a mundane task:
“He was discovering happiness in the present.
When he sat reading in the library or playing Mozart in the music room, he often felt the invasion of a deep spiritual emotion.”
And this is how I felt this afternoon. A feeling of being in the right place at the right time, doing what I was meant to do. And I think that I was meant to take time out of a normally busy life and just think about the beauty around me, the sun and the birds and yes, Flash the cat. Perhaps this was my Shangri-La for a couple of hours this afternoon.
And another Mary Oliver quote:
“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”And because I know that many of you are not having the lovely, peaceful summer days I am enjoying I share my rainbow with you.
My rainbow
I choose how I will spend the rest of my life 