cathedrals

A couple with whom I'm friends gave me a book a few weeks back.

They thought I might enjoy it (though they did apologise in advance for one or two somewhat 'raunchy' bits in it: I said I'd simply close my eyes at those parts!).

And I have been. Enjoying it. It's a long book (over 1,000 pages), but it's an easy and compelling read, drawing me in to a different world from centuries ago.

It's about a master builder who's been dreaming all his life of building a cathedral. And ... well, I won't spoil the story (partly because I haven't reached the end myself!).

Saturdays are often good for getting a decent run at books. Reading a hundred, or even a couple of hundred, pages at a time. I've managed a bit of that today. And enjoyed the chance to press yet further on into the book.

For I, too, have dreams. Perhaps we all have dreams like that. I think our lives, in many ways, are ultimately for us all the great cathedral that we build. Or not so great, I guess. That's where the challenge lies. What sort of sacred building am I putting up as every year goes by?

It's not been all I've done today by any means, of course.

There have been the usual domestic chores, including a spell at the superstore. We've a ceilidh coming up here on this coming Monday night. Hogmanay. And that means lots of trifles for, who knows, perhaps a hundred folk or more.

So I thought I'd best stock up with the ingredients, in case it came to Monday and the shelves were bare - at least of what I'll need to make these trifles.

(I was careful this week to keep well clear of any 'boozy' boxes in my trolley!)

The place was pretty busy once again. The Saturday before Hogmanay, it always is. But it made me think of how it used to be with the local grocer's shop.

It was always a sort of meeting place. A place where people stopped and talked and shared their news and everyone chipped in. I met all sorts of folk! And it was good to have the chance to stop and chat. Because most times in these superstores, everyone's in a rush.

But not today! It was back to being the good old days, when shopping was a part of community life.

A bit like the ceilidh we'll hold on Monday night. A chance to slow the pace of life and gather with your friends and talk and laugh and simply have that time with one another.

I guess that's one of the striking things a cathedral always has. Space. The building's always spacious.

And I guess that's why I want, in building the cathedral of my life, to build it in a way that means there is that sort of space and restful 'spaciousness'.