³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Good morning, 

Do you know that 30 years ago today you had a near miss?  Yes, you and any generations that have been born since, for on this day in 1989 an asteroid the size of a mountain had a near miss with Earth, which could have created a catastrophic event.  Thankfully such events are incredibly rare, although just this week a major meteor explosion in Earth’s atmosphere on December 18th was reported – a blast that released ten times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb!

It’s the stuff of disaster movies to contemplate how we might respond in a catastrophic event, and yet they do happen.  Later this year I’m travelling to visit Pompeii and Vesuvius which famously erupted in AD79, but less famously in 1944, and still remains an active volcano.

Most of our lives are exposed to risks though – calculated risks predominantly, but if you spent your life worrying about everything that could possibly happen in a day, you’d live a fairly anxious life.

Every day, even with it risks, is really a gift - and faith, philosophy and even good old common sense would suggest carpe diem – seize the day! 

Perhaps in my lifetime there will be another near miss day – when the earth is threatened by some unforeseen event, but I’d rather be aware of the day to day threats which I have far more control over – hatred, violence, pollution and fear.  If we can take our part in seizing this day, and every day to make a small difference then it becomes a day of great value.

Eternal One, you live and breathe in and through us.  Open us to the gift of this new day, and help us make it count.  Amen