One of my children was learning about the behaviour of water molecules, and for days I marvelled over it all. Words such as ‘cohesion’ and ‘surface tension’ came up and they might sound complicated but they are not. It’s as simple as this: water molecules are more attracted to one another than to the atmosphere around them. Each molecule reaches out to the ones beside and below and in so doing a stretchy skin is created at the water’s surface. If water falls, it forms droplets because the water molecules pull inwards from all sides so that they remain together.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. – John Donne (1624)
Since the beginning of time God has been delighting over families and friendships and wherever there is unity he commands a blessing. When people connect with other people, a protective skin forms around them like fortress walls to keep out isolation, evil, nastiness, bullying, peer pressure and all the things that could cause a water molecule on its own to completely disappear.
My mom and sister are natural gardeners so it’s quite tough trying to keep up with them. I have pots that I can manage quite nicely but if I try to create a new bed in the garden I find myself looking for fully grown bushes so that everything is just instantly as I imagine it to be. Too impatient! The Green Fingered Ones plant tiny little shrubs and saplings metres and metres apart. It all looks pitiful to start off but then months later everything has burst into fullness and I realise that they could see the end product and understood the importance of small beginnings, good spacing and allowing some time. Anyway, the other day I put a whole lot of poorly hanging baskets and potted plants in the middle of the lawn and told my mom that they needed the sick bay and if she could fix them she could have them because they were clearly not happy with me. She began to pour fresh compost and cut back and tap gently cocking her head to the side, and said, “Your biggest problem is lack of drainage.” I burst out laughing; for two reasons. Firstly, it has to be a special relationship for someone to tell you to your face that you have a problem. Secondly, it wasn’t such a big problem after all. I’m actually a good gardener deep down I just haven’t got enough drainage. And that brings me to my second point about water: it needs to flow otherwise it becomes toxic and kills everything that touches it. I have a dear friend who often fixes other people’s problems by saying just the right thing at just the right time. I tell her she’s got a gift with unblocking drains and that doesn’t sound very romantic, but when someone releases the blockage and the stagnant water gives way to fresh springs, that’s literally a life-saver.
Not far from where we live there are some magnificent granite rocks that we can climb. They are so familiar to us that sometimes years go by and we forget about them. Lately, I’ve been imagining climbing them before the sun is up and then sitting at the top, drinking coffee, watching the first beams of light break through. I don’t want to do it alone and so I am trying to find out who also wants to do this climb in the middle of winter before the day has begun. I described the riveting idea to my sister and did not see a single flicker of enthusiasm on her face but when I asked her what she thought, she said in her bravest, most uncompromising voice, “If that is what you want to do then that is what I want to do.” Like water behaving well, she sticks to me and decides to flow along together. The climb has not even happened, but her response instantly bonds us tighter. Without even knowing what she has done, the jewel-like droplet of us establishes a new skin and sparkles in the light and I smile to myself.
John 17 v 11 “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.”
Psalm 133 v 1 “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”
Leave a Reply