George Clarke

From Ruth Scott, Anglican Priest and Quaker:

At just after nine on the first evening of a few days’ break away my eyes were fixed on an Evening Primrose in my sister-in-law, Jan’s, garden. As we stood watching, all the tightly closed buds suddenly unfurled to full bloom within the space of three seconds. It was astonishing – like speeded-up film. There are many wondrous sights in the world I’d love to see and haven’t – the Northern Lights being top of my list – but here was a miracle of nature in my own ‘backyard’ and I’d never noticed it before. It made me wonder how many other moments of joy I’ve missed because I’ve been too busy to take them on board: Celebrations with family and friends; glimpses of nature’s glory; moments of stillness when the heart sings…‘What is this life if full of care/ We have no time to stand and stare.’ So begins a poem by William Henry Davies that I remember from childhood. I’ve come to believe that taking time to experience beauty is essential for our well-being. So often these days we’re bombarded in the news by the ugliness of inhumanity destroying lives and darkening our horizons. These out-workings of fear and hatred weigh heavy on the heart. In the light of them it’s easy to think, as one of my friends said, that, “We’re going to hell in a handcart.” But life shows us so much more, if only we take time to attend to it. Human creativity connects us with beauty through music, poetry, art and drama. Nature unfolds delicate moments of delight before us. Loving, generous and compassionate people remind us of the good of which we’re all capable. Across the years faith has taught me to help create, or constantly refocus my attention on beauty – to consider such things as ‘the lilies of the field’ as the gospels put it, that are simply themselves in all their glory. I realise that to lose sight of beauty is to risk losing ourselves and, as that Evening Primrose reminded me, to see beauty is to be restored to life.