“Everybody has a little bit of the sun and moon in them. Everybody has a little bit of man, woman, and animal in them. Darks and lights in them. Everyone is part of a connected cosmic system. Part earth and sea, wind and fire, with some salt and dust swimming in them. We have a universe within ourselves that mimics the universe outside. None of us are just black or white, or never wrong and always right.
No one. No one exists without polarities. Everybody has good and bad forces working with them, against them, and within them.
PART SUN AND MOON by Suzy Kassem”
We are all God bearers
 
Some of you may know that I stay 5 days a week in my cottage on the hills above Loch Ness, not many know that whilst I am there I wild swim with my two dogs. I find this discipline has many benefits, physically for my arthritis, mentally for my winter sleepy mind and spiritually for it is in the cold water surrounded by high hills, and with the longest view down the loch that I say morning prayer and shout out my gratitude for all that I am blessed to have and for Gods never failing provision in my life.
One morning I walked to my secluded and beautiful little Sandy place to begin my swim. Each step bringing tingling awareness of the peace that I crave, and expectation of the joy that the cold water shocks into my aching limbs. It was a perfect freezing cold morning.
The sky clear blue, the hills snow white, the birds were hovering, the fish were jumping, the dogs were playing and life felt peaceful.
And then!!! I noticed a group of young men sitting not far from my sanctuary , laughing, preparing to fish; I was less than pleased to share my moment with the God of creation in that creation.
I went into the water with a less than gracious attitude, casting dagger looks toward the group, and sulking, I swam with my dogs, I said my prayers less loudly than usual, spoke out my gratitude less exuberantly than I am known to do.
I walked out of the cold clear water to dry off and the group beckoned me over. They commented on my swim and my prayer then broke a loaf of bread that one of them, a baker, had brought for their breakfast, an arm was held out with a chunk of the bread toward me.
“Peace be with you, we are all God bearers” he said.
We chatted with each other for the next half an hour, shared faith stories and testimonies, they encouraged my ministry and I theirs ; each of them were committed to living out their own faiths in their own cities, and we smiled, and I was reminded in that encounter with complete strangers that to share creation is communion, to share bread is love.
That lesson was learned well and I am so very grateful.

Lesley Ann Craddock