Friday 19 September 2008

It was a Wednesday lunchtime, and I decided it was time to escape from the desk, at least for a few minutes. The idea was that I would get out into the lovely fresh air, and enjoy the sensation of the cobwebs being swept away. I wish! In fact, the rain was coming down in stair rods, great drops of it bouncing back up to knee level wherever you walked. If I had any cobwebs they probably got drowned, rather than swept away.

That's why I found myself, like lots of others, sheltering in the doorway of the local supermarket and feigning interest in the special offers. Next to me was a young mum with her little one in the buggy, and a stack of bags hooked on the back. Now, mums are great multi-taskers, as you know. They have to be. So, I wasn't at all surprised to see that this young mum was balancing the overweight buggy with one knee and soothing the child, whilst also grabbing a quick bite of lunch. What surprised me, though, was the nature of that lunch. Not a quick banana or a sandwich, oh no. She was daintily eating a plate of sushi with a fork with all the elegance you might muster in a top restaurant. I couldn't quite decide whether to admire her pluck and individuality, or wonder at her sanity. Sushi ... from a plate ... in the rain ... with an overbalancing buggy and a baby propped on one knee? Amazing ...

People are amazing though, really. I mix a lot with youth workers in various contexts, and one of the things they love about working with teenagers is their individuality. They seem unphased by all the other things which go with the teenage years - and instead to enjoy their quirky unconformity. For them there is a real buzz in working with such sparky and interesting people.

The Bible talks a lot about us as God's children - but I wonder what kind of children we are? Are we babies - with a vocabulary limited to roars of anger or gurgles of delight? Are we toddlers, insisting on our own way as we blunder about? Or are we teenagers - occasionally sullen and yet wonderfully individual? Perhaps it varies from day to day.

Whilst I was wondering at my quirky lunch companion, God was probably watching her too, or one of the other 6 billion fascinating human beings who bear his image.