Me and God

When the time comes,
when the river is a raging torrent
that I must cross
I will call out to God, My Daddy,
and He will come.

We will meet
as evening falls
at Tullyrusk.
I will sit, waiting,
at the end of the bridge
and My Daddy
will appear.
He will sit beside me
and we will talk:
My Daddy,
big and strong beside me;
me snuggled up
against him.
My Daddy will say to me,
“Claire, are you ready?
We’ll go in your own time”.
I will nod.
We will rise together
and approach the bridge.

I am only wee
but I feel safe
beside My Daddy
who is so big and strong.
My Daddy will wear
his warm, brown, cosy
winter coat
with the deep pockets.
He will take my wee hand in his
and we will both
slip our hands
into his pocket.
My Daddy will walk beside me
at just the right speed
so that I don’t have to run
to keep up with Him.

Sometimes the water might be a raging torrent;
other times it might be a mere trickle.
It doesn’t matter.
We will cross that bridge
when we come to it;
me and God,
together.

© Claire Murray

The Lord is Always Near Reflection (Psalm 139)

Lord,
I am like a diamond;
I have many faces
that I present to the world.
People see the sides
that I choose to let them see;
the good sides, only.
You are the only one
who sees every single side of me.
You see me
in my entirety,
from every possible angle,
inside and out.
Only you see the real me,
complete with all of my flaws
and you love me completely, Lord.

Sometimes, Lord,
I don’t like what I see.
Help me, Lord,
to see myself
through your eyes
and to accept myself
as I am.
Remind me, Lord,
that I am your work of art,
moulded with love
by you.

Help me to grasp
this amazing fact, Lord;
that you created me
ON PURPOSE!

© Claire Murray

Sing as if No-One is Listening!

Lord,

I heard your voice today!
I heard it, I really did!
Aoife bounced into the kitchen,
delighted with her afternoon in town
and told me,
“Mammy
I saw a poster in town today
and it made me think of you.
It said,
‘Sing as if no-one is listening!’
And I just thought of you!”

And that was you, Lord,
your voice speaking to me
through Aoife’s lips.
You were right, Lord,
sure aren’t you always?
That’s it in a nutshell,
what I’ve been working on
for months,
expressed so precisely, so accurately
by 15 year-old Aoife.

That’s where I need to be,
singing as if no-one is listening.
I managed it the first time,
do you remember?
Fr David had said to me,
“Forget that anyone is listening.
Forget that I am listening to you.”
And on that first day
I was able to do that,
to sing as if no-one was listening,
except you, of course!

I feel as if I’ve been climbing a mountain
in the mist
and the mist has just lifted
and I look around
and I’ve reached the place
where I wanted to be
without realising it.
I’ve been here for a while
and couldn’t see it.
So I plant my flag on this peak
with Aoife’s help.
It says on it,
“Sing as if no-one’s listening …
… except God”.

(c) Claire Murray