Heart-Warming

A few steps ahead of me
a young man walks past
McDonald’s.
One hand is pushing a pram
while the other is holding
the hand of his daughter.
This man’s hands are full …
literally!

Passing by
I glimpse the school uniform
of the Holy Child school
and a tear-stained face.

The young man stops,
going down on one knee
to gently wipe away tears
and speak soft words
of reassurance.

I can’t help thinking
that this mirrors
how God treats us
when we come before Him
in pain or distress.
Almighty, all-powerful God
stoops right down
to meet us at our level
and tenderly wipes
the tears from our eyes.

Isn’t there something
so heart-warming
in the love of a parent
that gives us just a tiny glimpse
of God’s love for us?

© Claire Murray, 5th December 2021

Pray for Those who Persecute the Unborn

ll week long
my mind has been filled
with thoughts of abortion –
the millions of wee babies each year
for whom, tragically,
the plan is death
rather than birth.

At Sunday morning Mass
Fr Thomas reads,
“Pray for those
who persecute you”
and I find myself thinking,
“Pray for those
who persecute the unborn.”

And so I pray …

Lord,
please bless each of these little ones
denied the chance
to be born
and welcome them
into paradise.

Bless their mothers.
Help them to realise
that each mother
is precious in the eyes of Our God
and is deeply loved
and cherished by Him –
just like their own wee unborn baby.

Bless the medical practitioners.
Help them
to have a change of heart
so that they may wonder
at the miracle of life
and use their skills
to save life
instead of destroying it.

Lord,
forgive those involved in any way
in taking the life
of the unborn.
To echo your own words –
forgive them
for they know not what they do.

© Claire Murray

(Matthew 5:38-48)

On My Daddy’s Shoulders

Derry is a city
that’s full of hills
and they leave your legs
wile, wile tired
when you’re only wee.

One day
when I was about three
walking up the hill at Stanley’s Walk
felt like too much of an ordeal
for me to endure
and I remember my Daddy
offering to give me a ride
on his shoulders.

I shook my head.
I was so wee
and my Daddy was oh, so tall!
What if I fell down
from such a great height?

Even at that young age
I knew that my refusal
really hurt my Daddy
and declining that ride
on my Daddy’s shoulders
is one of my life regrets.
And it left me with no choice –
I had to go uphill the hard way –
on foot.

As an adult
I encounter events in life
that feel too difficult
for me to endure
and I turn to My God,
My Daddy in heaven,
for help.
I pray that, as an adult,
I may find the courage
that I lacked
when I was only three
so that I may accept the help
that My God offers me
and face up
to life’s tough demands
riding high, in a spiritual sense,
on My Daddy’s shoulders.

© Claire Murray, 28th April 2018

Underneath the Coffee Table

My Daddy made a coffee table
which sat in the corner
of our living room.
It was my hiding place
when I was wee,
a place to find refuge
when I felt overwhelmed
or when I had done wrong.
Underneath the coffee table
was my space
I felt safe there
and would remain there
until I felt ready to emerge
and face the world again.

Some things in life
simply don’t change.
Now, in adulthood,
I still feel overwhelmed by life
at times
and I still do wrong.
Daddy’s coffee table
is still going strong
but I no longer seek refuge here.
Instead, I seek refuge
in prayer.

And sometimes, in prayer,
I feel like that wee girl again,
lying on the living room floor,
underneath the coffee table.

But I am not alone.

I sense Almighty God,
who really should be towering
oh, so high, above me,
crouching right down beside me
as He smiles and asks tenderly,
“Hello Claire, what’s up?”
My God then gently teases out
what’s troubling me
and sets me on the right path
so I feel ready to emerge, once more,
from underneath the coffee table,
ready to face the world
again.

© Claire Murray, 9th April 2018

Walking in the Rain

It’s our wedding anniversary tomorrow
and I leave work early
to buy a card and a present
for Paul.
It’s raining heavily
and even though it’s June
and I need to wear
a raincoat, hat, scarf
and waterproof trousers!

This rain is torrential!

This is not a pleasant day
to go shopping.
I dodge puddles
and cars that splash as they pass.
Eventually
I return to our car
with my card and present for Paul
and peel off
all of my dripping wet clothes.

To my delight,
despite the heavens opening on me,
only my feet are slightly damp –
my waterproofs have protected me
from most of the rain.

It strikes me
that my life is like that
when I do my best every day
to follow My God
because My God walks beside me,
his presence like a huge golf umbrella
shielding me from the trials and difficulties
that we all must encounter in life.

Lord,
when life’s troubles
rain down on me
remind me
that I am not alone
and that you stand right beside me,
sheltering and protecting me
so that I needn’t get wet,
no matter how torrential
the downpour.

© Claire Murray, 8th June 2017

Lost Cause

I’m fascinated by St Paul.
He seems to have been a man
who didn’t believe
in doing things by half.

When we first encounter St Paul
in the Acts of the Apostles
he is a man on a mission,
a defender of the Jewish faith.
St Paul is undeniably
deeply committed to his cause
of exterminating Christianity
and Christians.

And it is this staunch enemy of Christianity,
this persecutor of Christians,
that Jesus selects
to become a great missionary,
someone who would spread Christianity
around the world.

Such an unlikely choice
and such a clever one!
St Paul’s motto could well have been
“If something’s worth doing,
it’s worth doing well!”
St Paul now begins to work
night and day
to spread the Christian faith
that he had previously been determined
to destroy.

It makes me wonder
what God sees in each one of us?
God sees the potential
in everyone
and never dismisses anyone
as being a lost cause.
The question we need to ask ourselves is –
do we?

© Claire Murray, 6th May 2017

A Happy Ending

The story of the prodigal son
is truly heart-warming.
The arrogant, rebellious younger son
squanders the family fortune
and finds himself deserted by friends
in a foreign land.
Alone and penniless,
he realises the error of his ways
and returns home,
a much humbler man.
There, he is welcomed with open arms
by his Daddy.

This is comforting, reassuring.
It reminds us of our Daddy in heaven,
ever-ready to welcome each one of us
with open arms.
Our God is a God
of love and compassion.

I love that part of the story.

But I wonder
why did Jesus not stop the story
at this point?
Why did Jesus choose to tell us
about the older brother,
eaten up by jealousy,
who feels unable to even look at
the foolish son?

Why did Jesus include
that part of the story?

I suspect that,
in this story,
Jesus is calling me
to love and forgive others
in the same way
that My God loves and forgives me.
Jesus doesn’t intend this story
to be simply heart-warming –
He intends to challenge me
to live a life of love.

I can see his point
(but I would still have preferred
a happy ending!)

©  Claire Murray, 19th March 2017

Dandelions

At Mass this morning
we sing these words in a psalm,
“To you, Yahwheh,
I lift up my soul.”

As I sing these words
a scene flashes into my mind
from thirty years ago.

I’m home in Derry
for the summer
and I’m walking beside a playground
in the Bogside.

A toddler is busily
clambering up a bank.
She is picking a bunch
of bright yellow, feathery flowers,
yanking them out of the ground
one by one
and squeezing each one of them
into her tiny fist.
She is a picture of concentration.
Finally, her little fist full,
she carefully climbs down the bank
and runs over to her Mammy
to happily present her precious gift –
a posy of dandelions!
A delighted Mammy rewards her daughter
with a hug and a smile.

This morning at Mass
I’m acutely aware
of my failings
but, as I offer my flawed self
to My God,
I sense that He is delighted
at my well-intentioned efforts.
I sense a welcome and a hug
from My God, My Daddy.
I sense that My God delights in me
just like that Mammy
who delighted in her daughter
when she presented
a hand-picked bunch of dandelions
that she had gathered, with love,
in the Bogside.

©  Claire Murray, 6th March 2017

Tenderly Carried

As I cycle along the Tow Path
I find myself thinking about
a very delicate situation
that Paul and I find ourselves in.
I stop at my favourite spot
at a bend in the river.

Two swans
slowly glide downstream.
Glancing in my direction
and realising
that I have no food to give them
the two swans leisurely continue
their journey downstream.

Birdsong distracts me
and I look up the river.
As I do so,
I hear a strange sound behind me,
plop, plop.

I look back.

Beside the two swans,
two small, grey, fluffy cygnets
now stand on the river bank
and I realise
that the plopping sound
had simply been the mother swan
safely depositing her cygnets
when no-one was watching.

As I watch in wonder
I have a sense
that Paul and I
are not in our situation alone
but that Our God is with us
in our difficulties.
I sense that,
like the fluffy, grey cygnets,
we are being tenderly carried,
as we do our best,
in faith,
to deal with our circumstances.

And as I sit on the bench
watching the swans and cygnets
gently preening themselves
I feel reassured.

© Claire Murray, 2 July 2015

Just for What I Am

When I was wee
my Daddy used to play
Country and Western music
on an old-fashioned record player
in our house.
One of those songs contained the words
“I want someone to love me
just for what I am.”

Please believe me when I say
that I’m not a fan
of Country and Western music!
But I have to admit
that sometimes the sentiments expressed
in Country and Western music
hit the nail
squarely on the head.

I’m convinced
that “Just For What I Am”
could well be an anthem
for every one of us.

Deep down
each of us yearns
for love,
for acceptance,
for someone to think, simply,
that there is no one else quite like us –
that we are the bee’s knees.

Lord,
at those times
when I feel rejected by others
remind me
that I am always
your wee girl,
beloved and precious
in your eyes,
always welcome
to clamber up beside you,
always welcome
to snuggle in for a hug,
always loved by My God
just for what I am.

© Claire Murray, 23rd November 2014