Out of the mouth of babes

Sometimes a church's open door just looks too good to resist. I rode through Thirsk, pretty but crowded, with the theme tune for the late 70s TV show All Creatures Great and Small running through my brain; James Herriot's real life veterinary practice was based here. And then I passed St Mary's and saw the open door, saw someone walking in, saw the big sign in the churchyard that said 'Welcome!' So I pulled over. 

It's a lovely church, very open and light inside, and a couple of volunteers welcomed me as I came in. "You're fine to look around," one of them said, "but it might be a bit noisy because of the baby club." She gestured towards the front of the nave where a group of young mums were gathered around their prams.

I sat in a back pew; I wasn't too bothered about nosing around, but just fancied a little time to pray. It was very noisy: mums chatting, toddlers zooming around and yelling, one very young newborn making his presence felt. It was hugely distracting. 

Well, there are two good ways of dealing with distractions in prayer. You can develop cast iron determination, steely will and laser-like focus and ignore them. Or you turn the distractions into prayer. I don't have laser focus, and I enjoy the sound of kids having fun. So I prayed for the baby, for the kids, for the mums, for the wonderful welcoming church which opened its doors to them and me. I prayed for grace and joy and blessing in their lives. I prayed for God's presence to enrich their long lives into a future I'll not live to see. I thanked God for magnificent gift of life.

It was wonderful. One of the mums, the one with the newborn, passed my back pew on the way to the baby changing room at the back. As she hurried past she whispered, "Sorry about all the noise." There was no need. The noise had been a gift, and had made the whole experience of prayer life-giving. I wanted to tell her that, to thank her, to let her know how inspiring it had been. But she was gone, because there's an urgency about a full nappy that can't wait for my lofty spiritual meditations. So you guys get them instead. 

///playback.cake.coats