A Timely Map

        I know who sent the letter – but who sent the map?

Tang Wing and my mother smiled at each other as he carefully passed the baby into her arms.  They could not speak one another’s language, but it was obvious that she loved children and was very keen to give his grandson a cuddle.  He had flown over to Scotland all the way from Hong Kong to see baby James before his parents took him even farther away, to Canada.

Marianne and Alan Lau had been my next-door neighbours for over two years.  Alan, a civil engineer, had found work here in Ayrshire, while Marianne, Tang Wing’s daughter, had worked in a local bank until the birth of their little son. I enjoyed hearing about their earlier life in Hong Kong.  Marianne told me that she was never afraid when a typhoon made her tall building sway.  She would just go to bed and get rocked to sleep!  Alan said that, because of all the high-rise buildings blocking the view, he had never seen a complete rainbow until he came to Scotland.

Now they had decided to move to Canada.  They sold their house and prepared for the long flight over the Atlantic.  But because the new owners wanted to move in immediately, ten days before the Laus’ departure date, I had offered them temporary accommodation.  Fortunately, I had enough room, not only for the couple and their baby but also for Tang Wing, giving him the opportunity to enjoy his family for these few precious days.  One evening we were even joined by another young Chinese couple and their little girl, friends from Hong Kong who now lived in Liverpool.  I relished the sensation of being the only European at my dining- table!  Communication was partly in Cantonese, partly in English and partly in a very basic sign language, especially when my mother paid us a visit, attracted by baby James! 

At the end of this lovely family week Tang Wing had to travel back to Hong Kong, via Glasgow and London. Just as Alan was loading his suitcase into the car boot, in preparation for the drive to Glasgow Airport, the postman arrived.  Amongst the mail was a very unusual envelope, made from some kind of map.  I did not recognise the handwriting on the front.  Inside I discovered a thank you letter from my friend Janet’s daughter Jill, whose wedding I had attended two months before.  She apologised for taking so long to thank me for the wedding present. 

But I was not annoyed in the slightest.  Instead, my jaw was dropping in astonishment as I unfolded the envelope in order to look at the map.  Holding the envelope the correct way up, and reading my name and address in the rectangular space provided, I saw that the map was upside-down.  When I turned it round I read at the top: ‘MAP SHEWING (sic) THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION carried on by the steamers of the PENINSULAR & 0RIENTAL STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY’. Red lines indicated the various routes taken by the steamers to their destinations, starting from London.  Immediately under my post code was Hong Kong!

  What a marvellously timed coincidence!  I had never seen a ‘map envelope’ before then, and have never seen another one since.  Yet again I had cause to ponder on what I call “The Golden Network” which links us all together in an awesome, mysterious way.

 What had caused Jill to delay writing to me and then post her letter when she did?  I myself have often experienced the guilty feeling that I should have written or telephoned to a friend much sooner than I did.  Something always seemed to prevent me from doing so, something other than mere laziness or fatigue. Yet when the recipient finally got my letter or phone call they often remarked that it had come at a very appropriate time.

Who had thought of making an envelope out of a map?  Why did Jill choose that envelope?  She did not know that I had Chinese visitors.  So many unanswered questions!

All I can think after experiencing such a moment of joyful amazement is ‘Deo gratias‘  (Thank you, God!’)  and then often ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ (‘O Mighty Mystery!’)  Why the Latin?  I don’t know. Probably because I feel in the presence of a greater reality, an awesome presence which I can only sense but am far too small to understand.  I therefore subconsciously choose words which somehow seem more appropriate to the special occasion.  But in this particular instance I was also reminded of the beautiful words in Psalm 139:                                                                                

If I take the wings of the morning                                                                                          and settle at the farthest limits of sea,                                                                                        even there your hand shall lead me,                                                                                    and your right hand shall hold me fast.