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From Reverend Sharon Grenham-Toze, Anglican Priest and Prison Chaplain:

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I get to do all kinds of crazy things as part of my job as a prison chaplain. On Monday morning this week I started off with an African drumming workshop as part of our Harvest Festival, before setting off down the road to attend the very grand annual service for the Judges arranged by the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire.

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This really is quite a fabulous gathering of civic, church and legal dignitaries. There are wigs and robes galore, highly accomplished singing and many solemn words. It’s an occasion designed to mark the formal start of the legal year, involving people connected with the justice system in the area, and it’s a ceremony that’s repeated all over the country. High Sheriff’s services have been conducted for centuries, so it’s quite a link with the olden days too.

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Well there I was, surrounded by all this pomp and circumstance, just behind a very tall chap in scarlet and purple silk robes. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a slight movement, something dark just flitting across my vision. And then I watched as this little peacock butterfly danced across the aisle, coming to rest on the shoulder of the brightly coloured priest in front of me. He was oblivious to his extra passenger, but I was transfixed by this delicate little creature amidst all the solemnity and grandeur.

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We rush around importantly, our lives are full of weighty matters, we focus on grave and formal things – and of course often we must. But every now and then we need that gentle touch from somewhere else that says, ‘stop, look and listen for the small and delicate thing, what is it that you’ve been oblivious to, what is it that you’re missing?’ One of my favourite lines from the Bible comes from Psalm 46, ‘be still, and know that I am God.’ Simply that, be still and allow the present moment in all its beauty to wash over you.

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It reminded me of that old saying: you can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it, but if you stop and sit quietly, it will come and rest on your shoulder.