Today's meditation was written by Cathy Self, Senior Vice-President for the Baptist Healing Trust.

"Today a new sun has risen. Everything lives. Everything can speak to your soul passionately if you will be still enough to listen." – Sarah Ban Breathnach.

     His face lights up as he catches sight of one he loves deeply, his laughter swells to a gentle roar from somewhere deep within. His hands and face are a bit chubby, and when he smiles his eyes disappear somewhere far into crinkled creases of delight. At times he sits quietly and seems to comtemplate the universe; then suddenly, at unexpected moments, flashes of boundless energy propel him into unfettered expressions of sheer joy and delight. He brings all of himself into his work of the day. He seems to understand what really matters. He is a sage about love, knowing and conveying that what matters most is relationship.

     Some believe what we do inside relationships matters more than any other aspect of human life. Within relationship the value and practice of love as a shared and positive value is central, whether the relationship is familial, neighborly, or within an organization among leaders and followers. That shared love results in a desire to reach toward the other, to meet needs in other whether physical, emotional, or spiritual.

     Our very being is the result of relationship, yet as author Walker Percy once wrote: "modern man is estranged from being, from his own being, from the being of other creators in the worlds, from transcendent being. He has lost something, what he does not know; he knows only that he is sick unto death with the loss of it." One of the most famous elegies written – Elegy in a Country Churchyard – was penned by the English poet Thomas Gray as he wandered among the headstones of a graveyard one evening, considering the meaning of life and its toils. He apparently decided that life doesn't make much difference: simple joys are forever gone, destiny lost. "For them no more the blazing heart shall burn/Or busy housewife ply her evening care…the paths of glory lead but to the grave." His words of mourning are for those who have slipped through life unnoticed and unappreciated. His words seem to mourn the loss of what is essential in life, Love borne through relationships and moments of beauty.

     Somedays we seem more capable of capturing the beauty of the moment, other days we pass as if in a fog and often in frenzy – stealing time, making time, taking time – when time is here and all around us. And somedays, like the sage of love, we fall headfirst into the delight of relationship, shared moments in time. Sarah Ban Breathnach calls such moments of beauty and awareness, like those experienced by that sage of love whose face called this meditation into being, "everyday ephinanies." What grace and thanksgiving we can share in the sighting of a familiar and loved face, a warm embrace, a wonder-filled sunset, or like my little sage, the joy of a game of hide-and-seek (which 16-month olds seem so to love!).

     Love invites us to cherish relationships – all relationships – and especially among those whose needs we move to meet. We are so fortunate to be called into this sacred work. Will we cherish the relationship we find there? Will we let Love engage us in a laughter-filled game of hide-and-seek? 1, 2, 3, here Love comes, ready or not!