Stones . . .

The weather forecast is, to say the least, mixed, for the next few days, and walking on the wilds of Dartmoor seems distinctly unlikely to be achievable with any degree of safety.

So today's walk in the rain was around the 49 or so acres of the Sheldon site - following a plan that had the walker stopping at 15 different spots to pray and reflect upon the view and God's ongoing re-creation of it.

The most memorable of these for me was the Sheldon Open Air Theatre. Here walkers are invited to think of their lives being played out on a stage, and to reflect upon what an audience would have seen if they had been sitting watching them.

Standing under the stage canopy with heavy rain pattering down, I found myself remembering minute details and people long-forgotten, and allowing them to play through my memory again. The happinesses and sadnesses were all there; the joys and the disappointments in their measure were there; and there was a deep sense of peace and safety in allowing this to happen in such a place.

We had started the day with this powerful prayer:-

My Lord God,

I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself;

and the fact that I think I am following your will

does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you

does in fact please you.

And I hope that I will never do anything

apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road

though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always

though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,

and will never leave me to face my perils alone.

and all that followed in my Prayer Walk seemed to echo different nuances from the prayer.

Thanks be to God.