Church Bells

I have been wondering about things of comfort. I heard the Church bells as I wandered down into Brixham (Devon, UK) and realized there is much to be said for appreciating things.

I would barely have noticed them a few years ago - but now I hear them. Going away for a while has given me a new perspective on the familiar.

A new perspective on the familiar is important for our spiritual lives too. I was having a conversation about pilgrimages and relics yesterday and it strikes me that taking ourselves out of our ordinary  - but in the context of faith - can shine very new and extraordinary light on the lives we live. Sometimes we do need to step back - or out - or wander a little - not necessarily to change what we have -but to see it more clearly.

I am wondering now, where else there are things which I just do not see or hear because they are too familiar or because I fly through them with great ease. I know that it is said that preaching on familiar passages of the scripture is the hardest because we come to them with so many assumptions.

I am not sure how this pans out for everyone - sometimes it is just slowing down, sometimes actually going away, sometimes changing - but not just missing the music which surrounds all our lives as it blends into a noisy background.