Birthday Cake

This year for my birthday
I asked my daughter, Niamh,
to bake a birthday cake for me.
Niamh happily agreed to do this for me.
I went out.

Niamh enlisted her sister Aoife’s help.
Together, they Googled the Internet,
found a promising recipe by Mary Berry,
prepared the ingredients
and began to bake.

Later that evening an anxious Niamh
texted her daddy,
“Tell Mum the cake will make her
wanna shoot herself in the head”.

We returned a reassuring text,
only to receive one saying,
“the butter icing melted,
the cake’s a biscuit
and you don’t even wanna know
what happened the eggs!”

Further reassuring texts ensued
which merely elicited a response of,
“It’s a disaster. You WON’T wanna eat it,
believe me!”

I couldn’t wait to see this cake!

On our return the girls presented me
with my birthday cake,
covered with butter cream icing
and decorated with Smarties.
They challenged me to try it
and defied me to like it.

But the truth of the matter is
that I’m dying about my birthday cake.
Niamh and Aoife baked it specially for me.
My birthday cake is undeniably unique,
it’s quirky
and contains one special ingredient
that Mary Berry’s cake recipe omitted –
love.
In my opinion,
it’s the best birthday cake ever!

(c) Claire Murray

Sat Nav

When I’m going somewhere
for the first time
and I’m not quite sure of the way
I use my sat nav.

I type in the address,
wait a few moments
and then my sat nav begins
to give directions to me.

Sometimes I drive past my junction
by mistake.
After a slight pause
my sat nav begins to give me directions
to correct the mistake
that I have just made.

It never loses patience with me.

As I journey through life
I often find myself unsure
of the way to go
and I turn to my spiritual sat nav,
My God.

Step by step and day by day
He gently guides me
and shows me the way to go.
Sometimes, despite my best efforts,
I make huge mistakes
and head off
in completely the wrong direction.

When that happens
I turn again to My God
and he gently points me again
in the right direction.

He never loses patience with me.

Because of my mistake
my journey may be more circuitous
than it needed to be
but I get there in the end.

My spiritual sat nav only works
if I genuinely do my best
to follow My God each day
and if my destination matches
the only one that my spiritual sat nav
is programmed to recognise –
God.

(c) Claire Murray

It’s March!

One day last February
I lost my voice.
I couldn’t call to my children.
I could barely speak to my husband.
I couldn’t sing to My God.

One day last March
I sat in the café at the City Hall
with my two girls.
I missed my voice so much
and had no idea
when it would return.
I felt overwhelmed
by a deep sense of loss
and silent tears began to fall.
My two girls chorused,
“Mummy, don’t cry!”
I was mortified.
When I got home
I went to bed –
the only place in a busy house
where I could cry in peace.

Last March for me
me was a month of long, dark days.
I struggled.

This is March, St Patrick’s Day
and as I drove home from Derry
my heart soared.
It’s March
and I can call to my children!
It’s March
and I can speak to my husband!
It’s March
and I can sing to My God!

This March for me
is a month to give thanks
and to celebrate
and to laugh
and to proclaim,
“LIFE IS GOOD!”

© Claire Murray

Gorse

Feeling slightly troubled in mind
about a task that has been given to me
I head out for a walk
down our wee road.

Long rows of hedges
line our road,
looking dull, dry,
brown, brittle
and dead.

I glance ahead
and my eye is drawn
to one small, golden patch of colour
splashed incongruously
along the top of one section
of the lifeless hedge.
It’s gorse.

When I draw near
I see gleaming, glowing, golden flowers
on small, spikey branches
framed by a bright sky
and I feel this determinedly cheerful gorse
proclaim, “There’s hope!”

I peer at the bright flowers and I notice
that the hedge beside it is covered
with tiny brown buds.
I realise that the seemingly lifeless hedge
is actually bursting with the promise of new life.

I continue my walk
with a spring in my step,
a smile on my face
and conviction in my heart
that the task that seemed so daunting
when I started my walk
really is possible
after all.

© Claire Murray

My Mountain

Every day I climb a little bit
of my spiritual mountain.
It’ll take me the whole of my lifetime
to reach the top.

This morning I have reached
a tiny ledge,
a place of safety.
After an arduous climb,
it’s time to simply rest on my ledge,
and bask in the presence of My God.

This is no time to look ahead
and consider the great distance
I have yet to travel.
It is a time to relax and wonder at
all of the gifts
that My God has showered me with.

It is a time to contemplate
the beauty of where I am right now
and to see how far I have come
in the company of My God.

This is a time to exclaim,
“Lord, it is wonderful for me to be here!”

© Claire Murray