Attention is the beginning of devotion

I fell in love with my saucepan this morning.

We’re not getting married or anything. But I noticed a deep affection – a warm swelling in my chest.

It was early, you see. Time to put the cooled pot of curry in the fridge.

The pan was so heavy and so stained; hard and metally cool with its long handle and clangy lid. The curry slopped up to the top shelf, where it sat all firmly – awaiting deliciousness.

So lovely. So helpful. So essence of pan-ness.

The poet Mary Oliver wrote that “attention is the beginning of devotion.” When we take the time to stop and notice – when we pause our thoughts of regret and worry, of stumbled mistakes and fragile futures – we allow the inherent beauty of everything. A daisy, a sparrow, a puddle, a pan.

When we stop and look, when we allow attention, we notice love.

The fabric of the world.

Simon