A message from the universe

Once a month I hold and interfaith spiritual gathering in the local Unitarian Church. The Unitarians are really open to the idea of interfaith; hence the loan of their building once a month. However, I rarely, if ever attract any of their regular congregation to my services. That is except for Harold (not his real name). Harold is in his 80s and I have come to think of him as part of my family over the four years he's been attending. Harold, however, is my heckler. He interrupts me and introduces random snippets of information (actually they are hardly snippets as this would suggest that he keeps them short and to the point and they are as far away from being this as the sun is from the next star in our solar system). In his day, Harold was a jazz musician; playing the piano at Ronnie Scott's with other big names. Now he lives alone with no family to speak of; which is why I believe he attends. We are his family when the Unitarians aren't there.

Apart from Harold, my service has a small following. The usual attendees consist of my husband and sons; who come because I make them - because they “luuuv” me. I know it is far too early for them to be up at the weekend so I really appreciate their sacrifice. My mother, who is always late as she has to attend a proper service at the local Church of England before coming to support me. My brother and his family also used to attend before he moved overseas and I have a couple of other regulars who whilst do not attend every single month do show up with frequent regularity.

Every so often I become consumed with the futility of it all. Initially I had dreams of large numbers of Believers not Belongers; people who believe in a spiritual connection and want to express it but do not belong to a particular tradition. The most people I have ever had at a gathering is 20. Lately my numbers have been declining. That is if you can decline from such a low base. This month was one of those months and I was busy telling myself that this week would be the last one. I should have known better because every time I get to this point; something happens to convince me to continue. The universe definitely knows how to drop hints.

Today’s gathering was particularly devoid of attendees. 90% of the regulars were either away on holiday, had opted to enjoy the late autumnal is sunshine or had chosen to stay in bed. The service starts at 11 o'clock and at 11:05 I was sitting there waiting with my husband and one son (the other one falling into the away on holiday category). I was just about to pack up and go when the door opened and in came five people. Now these five people have been to a few of my services before. They were the residents and two of the carers of a nearby home for brain injured individuals.

The residents all have significant disabilities in terms of mobility and speech. I normally begin my services by asking people to participate in an opening practice designed to leave the outside world outside and bring everybody's focus into the room. The one I had planned involve people moving around, but because I knew this would cause difficulty to the three residents from the home; I decided that we would simply go round the group, each person saying two things. People were to say there name and one thing that there were truly joyful about.

The residents from the home all shared how happy they were to either be alive; to enjoy the autumn sunshine or to live in a community where they were fully supported. I was really touched that these people, whom from the outside looking in, appear to have nothing to be joyful about were able to find positive things to say. The really incredible thing was that when it came to the turn of my 12-year-old son to share one thing that he was grateful for he said he couldn't think of a single thing. This was despite my cajoling him and suggesting things that he could put forward.

Now I appreciate that this could have been because he felt shy, however, knowing my son as I do, I'm pretty sure that this was not the reason. It got me thinking just how much we take for granted. How often do we dismiss things like good health, living in a peaceful society, having fresh water on tap etc.

After the service one of the carers came up to me and said how much she had really enjoyed the service and that she knew the three residents also really enjoyed it because they are always so eager to attend. I was touched and bam ... There was my reason not to give up my monthly interfaith spiritual gathering!

How do you ensure that you do not take the blessings in your life for granted? Please share your thoughts I love to read them.