We had great plans
for our garden –
a pond to attract frogs
and maybe even dragonflies!

And so last year,
a small pond was put in place,
along with a wee pump
to circulate the water
and keep it fresh.

But the pump stopped working
and the wee pond
slowly got clogged up
with leaves, twigs
and grass.

The water turned green
and it was a sorry-looking sight –
a bit of an embarrassment, really!

Last week
I was holding the ladder
near our “pond”
while Paul was working.
I got bored
and started looking around me.
I was surprised to see
hover flies zooming around
at our wee pond
and sometimes even
rugby-tackling each other
mid-air!

Exciting stuff!

Wow!
Who would have thought
that our wee stagnant pond
would be worth fighting-over?

A movement caught my eye
as a wee insect wriggled
in the murky water.
A poor wee insect,
drowning …
and I couldn’t go to save him
because I was holding the ladder!

Minute after minute went by.
Still the wee insect wriggled
in the water
and showed no sign of drowning.
Strange …
could it be
that the insect actually lived
in the water?

I shot over to our stagnant pond
as soon as Paul came down
from the ladder.
And, right enough,
there was this wee insect
wriggling and flicking
and using a long tube
to snorkel its way
through the water.

How clever is that?
I mean to say –
how smart is God,
to have designed the insect that way?

It was a baby hover fly
and its Mammy or Daddy
was obviously guarding it.

And so our wee pond
wasn’t a failure after all,
it’s acutally
a hover fly lagoon!!!

God is like that, you know.
We try, with the best of intentions,
to do something for Him …
and it all goes
pear-shaped.
But God can take that
stagnant mess
that we’ve created
and do something wonderful
and totally unexpected
with it.

You see,
He’s God.
And He’s absolutely amazing
(and He’s wile, wile smart!)

© Claire Murray, 29th May 2025

My Aunt Chris
is a woman of deep faith
who has great devotion
to Our Lady.

During each visit
Chris will mention, at some stage,
the Rosary beads
that she uses every day.
She’ll also talk about
the wee plastic folder
containing all of her daily prayers
(and she’ll show me
Uncle Ted’s folder, too).

Chris will also mention
the holy water font
that she keeps, filled,
by the front door
and that she instructs her grandchildren
to use –
“You know what that
holy water font is for –
use it on your way out!”

That’s my Aunt Chris –
brimming over with faith
(and determined to pass it on!)

But right now, sadly,
Aunt Chris is dying.
And as I pray for her,
I’m aware that Chris prayed
for this exact time of her life
at least 50 times every day
when she prayed her Rosary.
You see,
each time Chris said
the Hail Mary,
she said the words,
“Pray for us sinners now
and the hour of our death”.

I’m convinced
that Our Lady will be there,
right by Aunt Chris’s side,
when God calls her.

And so, this morning,
I ask Our Blessed Lady
to pray for her old friend,
my Aunt Chris,
now, and at the hour of her death.

Amen.

© Claire Murray, 6th June 2025