MAYBE GOD IS LIKE AN ELEPHANT...

My hair dresser is back. Hurrah!!! No, she hadn't gone anywhere. She just stopped working in the summer and fell silent. I go to see her and, in that way of women and words, ask her why she stopped working. "Oh I didn't stop working. I just stopped doing hair. My energy just wasn't right and I didn't want to pass it on to my clients. My God wouldn't allow it." She's rasta. I contrast her with my present [and soon to be former] masseuse who will give massages when very ill, who will recount the latest chapter in the woeful story that is her life but does it really 'spiritually'. "Pray for me, sister. God has been challenging me/bringing trials and allowing temptations in the area of...." She's Christian. As I listen to the hair dresser and recall the masseuse, I can't help but wonder about this God. Perhaps in attempting to interpret God, we are like the proverbial blind men who after being allowed to touch a part of the elephant, were asked to describe it. All ears, said the one. No, all nose. Hang on, it's like a tree stump. Don't be silly, it's skinny, long, coarse with a tuft of wiry hair at the end... and so on each arguing for the righteousness of his interpretation and against the heresy of the others. All blind to the fact that God is all these... and so much more. THOUGHTs FOR THE DAY I have learned more about love, selflessness, and human understanding in the world of AIDS that I ever did in the cut-throat, competitive world in which I spent my life. - Anthony Perkins May I never have to suffer lack, before I can appreciate love. To suffer wealth, before I can appreciate simplicity. To suffer religion, before I can know God. To suffer the expectations of others, before I can realise the value of self. - RN