Thought for the Week – Birdwatching

Prayer as birdwatching.

I love the image of prayer used by Rowan Williams – prayer as birdwatching. Anyone who has spent time trying to watch birds knows how patient you have to be – but you also need to be still and alert, ready for the unexpected – not too tense but on your toes, poised and ready to receive the extra- ordinary.

And you may have to wait for hours and see nothing at all and then suddenly you may be surprised. But you must be attentive and full of expectancy. Prayer is living with this sort of intensity and  also nurturing that delicate instinct that responds to the slightest movement of God’s love in our lives –  to the nudge from the spirit.