Listening to the story of the call of Samuel this morning, I was reminded how often we get it wrong. It's not that we don't want to hear or respond. On the contrary, we are eager to do God's will and plunge straight into what we think he is asking, only to discover that we need to listen harder. Samuel was called, but it was only at the third attempt that he managed to tune into what the Lord was asking of him. There is a parallel with monastic life. We give God an unconditional "fiat" on the day of our profession but then discover that we must continue to listen for his voice in any and every situation. There is no quick or easy solution: we must persevere in prayer and humility if we truly want to do the Lord's will. Our podcast today takes up the same theme from a different angle. Perhaps all these reminders of the necessity of patience and perseverance are timely. The high winds last night did not do as much damage as we feared but a roof panel of the greenhouse has been torn from its fixings and our "permanent" gazebo is mangled beyond repair, which has made us all a bit sad. What silly places do we store our treasure in, greenhouses and gazebos!