Is it any coincidence that those saints through history who gave themselves to voluntary poverty for the sake of the Gospel were also people with a strong appreciation of God’s creation…and considered themsleves rich if they could enjoy the natural beauty of a field, river or forest? I’m thinking of people like Seraphim of Sarov or Fursa of Norfolk or Francis of Assisi?

Similarly when Jesus wanted to move our attention away from the superficial and material things which often consume us, it was to the birds of the air and the flowers of the field that he pointed. There is something profound in this switch of attention.

I remember my friend Phil Steer telling me about his little girl’s ability to draw delight from the most elemental things in God’s creation; the excitement of finding “yellow” or “triangle” in the world around her. It brought to mind something of the joy-filled spirituality of Francis of Assisi. It was for this that Francis’ neighbours referred to him and his “little brothers” as “the happy people”.

It was this ability to love life that attracted thousands of young people into the ranks of the “little brothers” and “Poor Clares” in the 1200s. When we think and talk about attracting others or living contagiously it is worth thinking about how we might nurture this gift of delight that made the very demanding lives of some of our monastic forbears so attractive to their contemporaries. So why not take a friend for a walk and go looking for yellow!