One winter’s evening
I drive home from work
by a different route.
Headlights from on-coming traffic
make it difficult to discern
the unfamiliar road ahead.
I make an error of judgement
and narrowly avoid driving our car
onto the grass verge.

My heart pounds.

The following evening I discover
that even simple journeys,
when undertaken at night,
transform into
challenging ordeals of concentration.

My confidence is gone.

We go to Sunday Mass in Straw
where we sit behind a mother
and her teenage daughter
who has Downe’s syndrome.
I offer up this Mass
for my new-found fear
of night-driving.

At the end of Mass
the teenage girl turns around.
She is very pretty
and gives me a beaming smile
as she says,
“You’re beautiful!”

Wow!
I’m astounded
at such a spontaneous
and unexpected compliment.

As we drive away from Straw
my heart soars
and I sense My God give me a little nudge,
reminding me
that He will be with me
at all times,
just like he usually is,
especially when
I drive in the dark.

© Claire Murray, 21st November 2017