Slow Worm

My aunt and I ascended Warton Crag near Carnforth after watching the King’s coronation. Like some 1950s householder, I went to a relative’s house to watch the great event, possessing no telly of my own. Several hours watching the box dulls the mind, so fresh air and a bracing walk did us good. Up there on that hill, we startled to see what we thought was a snake. It was in fact an Anguis fragilis, a species of legless lizard. Its other names are slow worm, deaf adder, blindworm and long-cripple. All these hint at disability, but the lizard is rather useful, and considered helpful in gardens and allotments for its taste in garden pests. It may be termed slow, deaf, crippled and blind, but it is does much good.

Do not dwell on what you cannot do, on your limitations and inadequacies. Reflect on what you can do, on what God has given you, on what you are able to discharge. If you cannot preach, whisper. If you cannot pray aloud, pray in your head. If you cannot write a book, just tell your story. You cannot clean the church, so clean your heart. You cannot build a hospital in Rwanda, so slip someone a fiver who needs it. The world dismisses people with cruel names and sneering jests, but the great God of heaven in whose image we are made can see much better and further. Bring to Him your loaves and fishes, and how many He will feed with so paltry an offering.