Kindly-disposed people
might describe Saint John the Baptist
as being “eccentric”.
Everyone else
you might describe him
as being “weird”.

There he was,
the Wild Man of the Jordan,
dressed in animal skin,
eating insects,
and rejecting the way
that the rest of society
chose to live their lives.

Yet something about this man,
something in what he said,
was compelling.
People listened to him.
People repented.
People turned again
to God.

At all times
John the Baptist did his best
to deflect attention
away from himself
and towards God.
John the Baptist
was like a sign post
pointing to you.

And it strikes me
that this is how I want to be.
I want to be like a compass
pointing people towards you
through my singing,
through my writing,
through the way that I live my life.

Like Saint John the Baptist
I feel a bit of an oddity,
not quite the same
as everyone else.

In my own, ordinary, everyday life,
let me be a compass,
pointing towards you, Lord.

© Claire Murray, 7th December 2014