One of my ministries this year has been to help out ‘Playtime in the Park’ of Rockdale UC every Wednesday morning at Gujaga Park. Uniting Church ministers are required to give a portion of their working hours to the wider church, including the presbytery, and Rockdale UC is closely aligned with our church.
Next year Bexley Uniting Church will start a ‘Playgroup’ in the church hall. The team for this ministry will provide play, crafts, story time, singing children’s songs, and some fruit for children aged 1 to 5. If anyone would like to help, they are very welcome.
So, every Wednesday morning, I meet many mothers and their children in the park, and there's one particular story that stands out that I’d like to share. This mother was an Anglo Australian woman, and I recall that her husband was Asian backgrounded.
She had twin sons, two years old, and they were incredibly cute, well-behaved—like little angels. Imagine two two-year-olds standing beside their mother. She couldn’t do anything else because she had to
keep an eye on both of them. One would dash off in one direction, and the other would make a break for it in the opposite direction. This mom would grab one child, hold him close to her chest, then quickly stretch out her arm to grab the other one and pull him in. As I watched this scene with a smile, she looked over at me and said, “Don’t I look like an octopus stretching out my arms?”
I couldn’t forget that scene; it stayed vividly in my mind all week. I thought that’s how God holds onto us. Even when we drift away, lost in our worries, thoughts, and self-pity, perhaps God is reaching out and pulling us back to His side.
We might find the image in Psalm 119:176, “I have strayed like a lost
sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands.”
Today, we, too, may wander away from the Lord like lost sheep. But our Lord
will search for us and draw us back to Him, for His Word remains deeply in our hearts. Leave yourself to His pull. He is good, and He loves you faithfully. Amen.