For hours it seemed I was attempting to cut down with my axe a huge branch in my garden. In this quiet place, the axe’s sound, a great thud, would reverberate around the silent valley. It was raining steadily and the drops were falling drip drip from my hat. After an hour of very slow progress I was tired and happy but the task seem endless.

Suddenly I stopped.

At the foot of the bank a robin was pecking and skipping for the pure joy of being alive. I stood entranced hoping he would not go away.

But he did.

A few minutes later the great branch fell with a crash.

As I write this I am listening to Thomas Tallis’ ‘O Salutaris Hostia’ but, as sublime as the music is, the spiritual experience cannot compare with watching the robin living for the present moment.