The Secret Place

The Secret Place

What a pleasure it is to be welcomed home by a dog with a waggy tail, or by a cat purring as it rubs itself against your legs!  For about ten years I had the company of both Benji and Squeak, a consolation as I gradually got used to living alone after Bob’s death.  Here they are, looking hopeful at the dining room table!

After Squeak the cat had died (aged 19), followed two years later by Benji, a kind friend presented me with a small cuddly dog to cheer me up.  On a whim, I placed it on top of the chest of drawers on the upstairs landing, so that whenever I returned home, I would see a doggy head peeping down at me!  Here he is – but what is that other creature, seemingly whispering in his ear?

It is a souvenir of my cousin Ishbell’s 80^th birthday lunch in Harrogate, which took place just after Easter.  Before we left, Ishbell asked us each to choose a little reminder of the occasion from a decorated basket containing small Easter eggs and knitted egg cosies.  I chose this cosy, but instead of putting it in a kitchen cupboard beside the egg cups I decided to display it.  But where?  As I unpacked my suitcase on the landing, I suddenly thought that if I placed this little winged creature close beside the dog it would look as if it is breathing inspiration into his ear.  That would be a fun version of a favourite picture in my study!

The picture in question is a copy of Rembrandt’s St Matthew and the Angel. 

The angel is whispering words of inspiration into St Matthew’s ear as he writes his Gospel (Good News).  ‘Angel’, from the Greek ‘angelos’ means ‘messenger of God.’  The verb ‘inspire’ comes from Latin ‘inspirare’ meaning ‘to breathe or blow into’. I love the following message from Chapter 6 of Matthew’s Gospel because I think it is applicable to any age: 

Jesus said, “When you pray, go into a room by yourself, shut the door and pray to your Father who is there in the secret place, and your Father, who sees what is secret, will reward you.”

Blaise Pascal, the 17^th century brilliant mathematician and devout Christian, once said      “All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.”

Of course, not everyone has access to an empty room at home, or the prospect of silence in the middle of a busy household or office.  But we can pray for help and guidance – or give thanks to God – at any time, in any place – in a train, on a bus, in a queue at the supermarket, in the dentist’s waiting room, on a hospital bed, etc.  Aware of that, Leslie Weatherhead, in his book A Private House of Prayer, quotes this lovely little poem:

There is a viewless, cloistered room, 

As high as heaven, as fair as day, 

Where, though my feet may join the throng, 

My soul can enter in, and pray.

One hearkening, even, cannot know
When I have crossed the threshold o'er.
But He alone, Who hears my prayer,
Hath heard the shutting of the door.