"Look at the sky; we so rarely look at the sky" - Brother David Steindl-Rast ... photo/simonmarsh

WE SO RARELY look at the sky, says Brother David in A Good Day … and whether that’s technically true for most people, or not, the point is well made. Much of what we experience as A Good Day involves what the sky looked like, the “over-arching features”.

My “good” childhood birthdays (all of them, I think) involved blue domed sky above tea parties that always included favourite sandwiches, strawberries and ice cream, and fairy cakes with colourful icing – so that the feasts were always as much about colour and art-fest as culinary delight and family and friendship shared.

The rear-view mirror in the car tonight was looking backwards for me, reflecting, “looking at the sky”, the overarching and satisfying features of the day, the week, the month, the year, my life. Looking back, reflecting. Looking forward and moving. Going and growing. Praising God with, as St Irenaeus would say, “the glory of someone fully alive” … this is Examen. This is prayer. This is Life. Look at the sky …