Aim: To reflect with wonder on our relationship with God.

• Bright and different-coloured fabrics
• Different types of pictures of young children
• Toys
• Handout copies of "The Daddyhouse (for Katie)" by Michael Gainey
• Balls of clay
• Large sheets of paper (wallpaper?)
• Paints and brushes, or pastels
• Handout copies of Psalm 131 from 
  "Fountain of Life"
• CD: "Fountain of Life" by Margaret Rizza

Suggested focal point: Coloured fabrics scattered with toys and pictures of young children.

Gathering music: "O Lord my heart is not proud" from "Fountain of Life" by Margaret Rizza.

Reading: "The Daddyhouse (for Katie)" by Michael Gainey.

1.
Lately you are showing me
How not to be afraid
And let the loving out.
Quietly I watch as you explore
The playschool garden.
In your hair the sunlight dances
As you smile
At the specialness of daisies.

2.
Forgive me love, if my frustration
Sometimes makes you cry.
Immersed in adult norms
Constrained by order
I am uneasy in your world
of boundless possibility.
For you, just now,
A wall is there for drawing on;
A television screen looks pretty,
Smeared with yoghurt.
You never doubt that I can stretch
To catch an ornament in mid-fall.
Eating to your inner rhythm
Not bound by pattern.
You sometimes cry out in the dark night
Attempting to forestall the lull of sleep
Unwilling to surrender all the wonder
To be found in baby days.

3.
And sometime, my bright love,
I look at you
From behind the fear of ages.
Clothed in my own sadness
and full of loss
I shudder at the dark dream.
I hear you sigh
At finding me inadequate.
And then I watch you turn away
And walk with purpose
Towards the Daddyhouse
Where you might trade me in
For one more suited to your needs.
And in that dream
You leave me in a loveless world,
Beyond tears, beyond loss,
And ever reaching for the comfort
Of your tiny hands.

4.
But you are showing me that
Fear is what remains
When love and trust are obsolete.
Here in this sunlit garden
You run towards me
With your arms thrown wide.
The only word you choose
is "Daddy".
All else is felt and known.
Today I hold your warm smallness
And feel the vibrant pulsing life,
In arms that do not meet around my neck.
Your blonde head nestles on my shoulder
With weary comfort;
And I know
That here and now is who you are
And where you want to be.

5.
So as I cling to you
The span of generations
Living in your small frame,
I feel intensely human.
I am calm and strengthened
By your fragile innocence
With your bright eyes
As only children can
You captivate my heart and once again
I am uplifted by the mystery
Of loving you.

The ordinary things that children do every day are often transformed by the degree of wonderment and happiness that they bring with them. They can be lost in the mystery of things, with mixtures of emotions and expression a constant source of amazement to those who watch them play. Yet what they do is often just ordinary. The child is free, spontaneous, and unlimited by adult norms. They create their own sense of enjoyment and are totally unaware of the expectations of others. They make extraordinary moments out of ordinary ones.

• Read the poem "The Daddyhouse (for Katie)", jotting down anything that resonates in it, and perhaps touches your experience.

• Recall a few experiences of your own young life, or those you have witnessed in others, where "the sunlight danced on your hair as you laughed at the specialness of daisies." These might be experiences of abandonment, of total absorption or of total trust and so on.

• Remember moments in your own young life when you've "trusted and let the loving out" 
  - times when life seemed full of endless possibilities or times when you were not self-conscious of the expectations of adults around you.

• Spend time in "the playschool garden" of your life.

• Where was the life and energy?

• How, if at all, were you conscious of God in those moments?

• If drawn to, spontaneously create something in clay or with paints or pastels to reflect what you're in touch with in this prayerful reflection.

Play "O Lord my heart is not proud" again, and reflect on the words of this setting of Psalm 131.

O Lord, my heart is not proud nor haughty my eyes.

I have not gone after things too great
nor marvels beyond me.

Truly I have set my soul in silence and peace, at rest,

As a child in its mother's arms, so is my soul.

• Recall moments of trust as a child with another child, friends, or an adult.

• Recall moments of fear in ordinary, everyday life as a child.

• Recall moments of love as a child, loving another or being loved.

• Where in your current life do you feel trusted, fearful, loved?

• "You run towards me with arms thrown wide" - How do these words speak of your relationship with God, both in the past and in the now?

• How do the words "And I know that here and now is who you are and where I want to be" speak to your own experience, and your relationship with God?

• Read the last verse of "The Daddyhouse (for Katie)".

• Does this have anything to say about your relationship with God?

• What image of God does it portray for you?

Worship: Read again Psalm 131 and "The Daddyhouse (for Katie)".

Close with a time of silence and hold the giftedness of the day before God.