A reasonably large cardboard box appeared on the verandah of our craft department one day, a towel draped over the top. What was it I wondered?

Something happened the other day and, fleeting though this moment was, its legacy has plumbed some rather deep places within my heart, leaving a rather sobering, yet not unfamiliar, paradox hovering in its wake.

I first heard of desire lines years ago from my brother-in-law who is a Town Planner by profession.

As I walked into our Church for Middle Hour one day not long ago, a sister who was already sitting there motioned to me to look out the window to the beams which support the overhang of our Church roof.

I was to meet the deliveries man at the back door at 8.00 a.m. one day last week. Lauds finished just a few minutes after 8.00 so, in a far from contemplative mode, I hurried along the cloister, not wanting to keep him waiting. I saw him there…