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