Parallel worlds - Wed 28 March 07

I work as the site manager at a school. The buildings vary. The sports hall is new and functional with some nice lines. The science labs are a single-storied eyesore! The main school building, by contrast, is a beautiful old listed building, having been built in 1862. It retains many features of a classic Pugin design - a steeply-pitched roof with fan-tail tiles; diamond-shaped leaded windows; intricate brickwork – making it very pleasing on the eye. Its first function was as a seminary, then in the 50s it became a school, hence the add-on buildings. Over the past 145 years or so, the corridors and surrounds have resounded with the happy noises of students and their teachers.


Oblivious to human activity another world carries on at the same site. Just above my office window, on the outside I hasten to add, there’s a small hole in the brickwork, where a blue tit has set up home. In the quadrangle there’s a blackbird’s nest deep inside the wisteria. The wrens have chosen their spot near the bike sheds, as have the sparrows, the starlings and the swallows. I don’t think they’re overly concerned with maintenance budgets and the like.

Jesus said: Have a good think about the birds. They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they are? Matthew 6.26

Often we can get so absorbed with life that it passes us by.
Take time to stand and stare.
Take time to smell the roses.
Take time to watch our feathered friends go about their routine.
Take time to stand back and recognize God’s grace and provision and care.