I quoted Annie Dillard this last Sunday: "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." The statement poses challenging questions, doesn't it? How am I spending my days? Am I being intentional about the way that I am living? This is not to suggest that we have to cram endless activity into each day - after all, we have just been on a Sabbath journey together that has reminded us of the wisdom of stopping, resting, delighting and worshipping. But Dillard does encourage us to reflect on how we are using our time.

The great violinist, Nicolo Paganini, bequeathed his priceless violin to his home city of Genoa, stipulating that the city could keep the violin on condition that the instrument was never to be played. Paganini thought to preserve the violin but didn't account for the fact that wood that is used and handled shows little wear, but when left without being touched, begins to decay. One writer has observed that Paganini's "exquisite, mellow-toned violin has become worm-eaten in its beautiful case, valueless except as a relic. The mouldering instrument is a reminder that a life withdrawn from all service to others loses its meaning".

It's a vivid picture, isn't it? Where are there opportunities in your life and mine - in our families, our communities, our church - to give ourselves away in service and be played like a magnificent instrument