Matthew under the arm 35

A young woman came rushing out of her house as I passed through a village. She had anxiety written all over her face. She shouted down the street, three names...her children, of course. Columba had been wanting to walk on his own. He was well behind me. I asked her if she would like some help. Her eyes gave the answer. Together, we went down an alley and onto the main street of the village, next to the market. We could hear children's laughter from a good distance away. Relief! There by the fruit stall was Columba. He was sitting on the ground telling stories and teaching children to tie beautiful knots with ordinary string. The young Mother looked suspiciously at Columba and was about to grab her three little children. Columba noticed. 'Untie this knot', he said to her with that cheeky smile of his. Afraid of seeming hard and foolish, she took the string and tried to untie the knot. She was beaten. 'Allow the knot to relax in the palm of your hand. Look at it and it will tell you how to do it.' She smiled. She too was a child after all. And so is Columba!


Matthew 18:5-10….
Drowned, hands chopped off and eyes torn out. The culture of the Gospels is one of urgency. And so Jesus’ methods are urgent. The image of a child is one of total dependence: a model for relationship to God. So to relate to a child with kindness and sensitivity is to relate to God. The ‘child’ is not just an infant, but anyone who understands what it is to be utterly dependent. Child-like. In our culture, such dependency is regarded as inadequacy. The contrary is, of course, true. To depend utterly on God, whom we do not know, is what faith is.

I would learn simplicity from those who live in dependence on You.

Abandonment or surrender is central. Go through your day’s routine and engagements and ‘hold them up against the light of surrender to God’… At least, you will have surrendered yourself to other people and even machines! As you use the sentence, imagine someone you know who has come close to this abandonment to God. What do you admire about him/her? Do you want to imitate that dynamic? Now take a simple activity for which you are preparing. Spend a few seconds holding it, surrendering it to God. Breathe deeply and gently…. And let it go…. Finish by praying for children you know.

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles