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