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Yesterday I made reference to pilgrimage and that put me in mind of one of my favourite sayings – "With patience, perseverance and a bottle of sweet oil the snail at length reaches Jerusalem".〶ÄPatience and perseverance are rather counter-intuitive gifts in a world such as ours where being in things for the long haul is very often not really part of the deal.〶ÄWe want it and we want it fast and we want it now.〶ÄAnd then we want a new one – even if it isn’t broken.〶ÄBut we all know that the journey of our lives does sometimes require that things, and most importantly, relationships, be repaired – and that’s where things like patience and perseverance come in.〶ÄI was also pondering on the ingredients of that bottle of sweet oil. It is, presumably, to be used to provide balm for the soul . Perhaps a kind of spiritual arnica. My sweet oil recipe would certainly include the following – my faith in a loving God; the love of family and friends; a dose of attentiveness for all the aspects of the journey, including the beauty of creation; a good slug of forgiveness; some opportunities to both give and receive generosity; and definitely some kind of antidote to self-pity, which would incorporate a robust sense of humour.ã€¶Ä If the ingredient list would stretch that far I wouldn’t mind some kind of concentrate of the music of J S Bach as well.

So those are the main ingredients of my bottle of sweet oil.〶ÄI wonder what would be in yours?

Lord, give us patience, perseverance and some drops of sweet oil for the part of the journey that today will bring.

Amen