I was watching ‘Paddington goes to Peru’ with my daughter yesterday (terrible film) and it got me thinking about home and belonging.

I have been advised to not ‘overreach’ as I could unbalance myself and fall over. Paddington went the whole way back to where he came from to realise his real home was in London with the family he had nearly left behind. The many reels I see in social media frequently consist of people reaching for more, frantically trying to get attention and justify their existence. What would happen if we stopped grasping and realised that we have most things right within our reach?

When we look beyond ourselves, what will we find? Often I discover that the most precious things are not out of my reach but actually right beside me. It can be easy to miss that. We can travel thousands of miles only to find that what we are searching for is right there, in our heart.

Perhaps this is the home bird in me talking, but I wonder where we find our worth: in the mountains we have climbed or the person sitting opposite us? Or the God whose love lives within us?

It isn’t about reaching, it is about looking within and finding the best things about us are right here. That belief is life to me, as my existence gets reduced to tighter and tighter circles.

The depths within are still waiting to be explored though. For you, for me, for all of us.