I’m annoyed.

A friend has said something to me
that I consider to be
quite offensive.
I want to forgive
the person involved
but, although I try my best,
I still feel resentment.

I pray for the grace to forgive.

Our Folk Group goes
to the Holy Family church
to listen to the Notre Dame Folk Choir.

As the choir sings the Our Father.
I have a sense
that My God is showing me
a view from a mountain top.
The mountains are not
the low, heather-clad hills
of Ireland.
These mountains are on a different scale
altogether.

This is a mountain range,
a series of pointed, snowy peaks
that reach high above the clouds.

And as I gaze in wonder
at the expanse below me
I sense My God say,
“Claire,
this is how much I am willing
to forgive you.”

In that instant I realise
how insignificant and how petty
my grievance is.
My feeling of resentment evaporates
and I now feel at peace.

Thank you, Lord,
for your gift of music
which, through the Notre Dame Folk Choir,
has given me an insight
into the immensity
of your forgiveness.

© Claire Murray, 23rd May 2016

Sunday was a glorious day
so off we all trekked
on an hour’s journey
to Portglenone Forest
to see the bluebells.

The car park was busy –
young families picnicking, barbequing
and taking photographs.

We savoured the sight
of chalk-purple hills
as we breathed-in hyacinth-scented air .
The slopes of the forest
were truly beautiful,
even other-worldly.

A long drive
seemed like a small price to pay
for this purple wonderland!

Back at work on Monday
I walked up the Falls Road
and what did I find?
A bluebell glade
only minutes from the city centre!

I was stunned –
we had traipsed all the way to Portglenone
to see the bluebells
and here they were,
all along,
on our doorstep!

Isn’t life like that sometimes?
We hurry and get stressed-out
as we rush here and there
on our own personal quest for peace,
forgetting all the while
that God, with his precious gift of peace,
is so much closer
than any of us can imagine.

Help me, Lord, to find you
in my ordinary, every-day life
where you are so near to me –
closer, even, than the air I breathe.

© Claire Murray, 17th May 2016