Boy in the Window

Every morning I go through a ritual. It is not of my own choosing, but I've been doing it for a while now so I guess I'm just used to it.

Some time in the morning (usually too early) I hear one of my young children wake up. This is my cue to go downstairs, get two cups of milk, return upstairs and bring both my 18 month old son and 3 year old daughter into our room in the hope that while they drink their milk I and my wife can close our eyes for another couple of minutes. It doesn't always work.

This morning, post ritual, I lay in bed and heard my son say, "law-ee". There is always great excitement when the sound of a lorry can be heard, particularly when it is the bin lorry. The persistent cry of "law-ee, law-ee" made me get out of bed and take my son to the window where I picked him up so he could see the bins of rubbish being loaded into the lorry and watch it drive down the street.

They say that God cares about the everyday stuff of life and that, far from being a distant entity, God proved that he was actively involved in life through the person of Jesus Christ, experiencing the everyday stuff that we all experience.

This afternoon, on my way to a coffee shop to study, I walked past the meeting place of the Legion of Mary - a house named St Joseph's on a busy corner of the main road. I walk past this building most days, but today I noticed something I had not seen before. (Perhaps it has been there a while???) In one of the windows was a large statue of Joseph holding a young Jesus.

Perhaps the Marian legionaries think of this statue as providing some sort of blessing for those who pass. But today I smiled as I saw Joseph holding his boy up to the window to watch the lorries drive down the street.