Pandemoniuam, Order, Organisation and Chaos

Yesterday’s newspaper included the headline: ‘SQUIRRELS GO NUTS’.

‘A train service was cancelled after two squirrels boarded and attacked passengers. Staff started shifting people up the carriages to get them away from the enraged rodents.

‘But the service had to be terminated early as one squirrel refused to alight. The drama began when the pair hopped aboard the 8.54am Reading to Gatwick service as it stopped at Gomshall, Surrey…’

I smiled. The story continued – ‘Complete pandemonium… passengers for Gatwick missing holiday flights… we’ve heard of the ‘leaves on the line’ excuse, but a squirrel attack is a new one.’

Yesterday…

First thing, Rachel and I looked at our family calendar… what and where, people, appointments, commitments… What wasn’t there, wasn’t happening.

My friend Bruce in hospital was ticking boxes – the next day’s menu… shepherds’ pie and mash, bread and butter pudding and custard… rice crispies for breakfast… he’d ticked jelly and ice cream…

Grandson-Luca told us about his school timetable – maths, English, Spanish, art… an hour of each, different teachers, different rooms, different times…

At home I looked at our personal finance spreadsheet… the schedule of programmes listed on the ‘What’s On TV’.

Predictable timetables and schedules bring security; a well ordered, well organised life brings comfort and reassurance.

This morning reading…

…about Daniel …displaced from his home as a teenager, conflicts with religion, culture and politics, incidents with mysterious dreams, ghostly hands writing riddles on the wall, the encounter with a den of lions… His God didn’t give him a comfortable timetable or predictable schedule.

…Selina Stone: ‘On the day of Pentecost the Spirit arrives in a kind of holy chaos… It is not neat or polite by any stretch of the imagination. Some hear the good news of God being declared in all kinds of languages. Others hear gibberish and write them off as drunkards…’

Musing… Where does my desire for an ordered and organised life fit in with squirrels going nuts and my unpredictable God who can produce ‘holy chaos’?