SCHOOL is back, the leaves are turning yellow, the schools and churches are having Harvest Festival celebrations, and before we know it the cold, the winter and Christmas will be upon us!

In a busy world with meals to plan, people to see, places to go, it is very easy to get caught up in the next week or month or year.

Do I have time? Does the train go there? Will I disappoint them if I don’t do this?

It is so easy to live in the future and the not yet, and miss out on what is happening here and now.

Back when we had religious houses, the monks and nuns would stop seven times a day to pray. They would give thanks, pray about the world around them and their communities and commit the rest of the day to God’s purpose.

In our modern language, it was about living in the present, being thankful, naming concerns, doing what you can do, and not what you can’t. So maybe if the seasons are speeding past give it a try.

Call it prayer or mindfulness but practise being in the present and seeing what is good around in this beautiful autumn.