abbotsford parish church@clydebank@scotland

first of many

A traveller on the road took his family and household into the desert. It seemed an inspirational thing to do. Something nagged him like a bear with a sore head to get going, to move on out, to seek a new horizon. And at first the idea oozed with enthusiasm. But after months of brown rock and dry dust and sand rubbing between everything, the enthusiasm waned a little. So tents were pitched and animals herded. This was make your mind up time. Time to ponder and think and consider the options which aren't many in the middle of a desert. The sky was always brilliant though. Even at night. And something told the wanderer that it was full of meaning. That somehow he was the first of something big, that would grow and become immeasurably huge like the stars in the sky or the sand that was between his toes, under his nails, and squatting in his beard. But that was just poetry. It stirred the heart and painted rainbows but didn't get on with living in the real world of pots and pans. Then one day something happened that made them all laugh. The wanderer was old now, so old it seemed he had always been old and so too his wife. They were old enough to have forgotten how to do a lot of things couples do but they hadn't forgotten to laugh and this gave them a right good chortle. Even God commented. A baby to a woman at 90 and it's father at 100! It's not something you take too seriously. It was three strangers who brought the news: this promise of a son and during some traditional Arab hospitality there was more laughter. But a surprise was waiting in nine months time and from then on the stars seemed to have the names of grandchildren and the sand was perfect for their sandcastles.   Copyright: R Hamilton 1998

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