Jay Blades

I guess since today is Burns’ Day it’s a good thing to have a Scotsman on. Tonight, a reasonable chunk of folk all round the world will be celebrating Scotland’s national bard, Rabbie Burns. There will be haggis – and they do say that there are 2 things you should never see being made: haggis and government policy! And there will be whisky and speeches and poems that most can’t make out, like: “Oh wad some power the giftie gie us tae see irsels’ as ithers see us…” Yes, this Pause for Thought will shortly be available with subtitles…

If you didn’t catch it, that little snippet translates as, “oh, would some power give us the gift to see ourselves as others see us” and in my book, that is a profound idea. At Christmas I wrote in a note to my wife, ‘if I could give you any gift in the world this Christmas, I’d give you my eyes – so you could see how beautiful, how wonderful, you are.’ Of course, being a Scots male I certainly didn’t send it to her! (but she’s heard it now). I’ve never been entirely sure quite how to take Burns’s thought. Seeing ourselves as others see us is possibly an invitation to see how big an eejit I look, or how annoying I am! But I think that for most of us, the greatest surprise would be to see how loved we are.

I feed birds. I have feeders in my garden and the first time a goldfinch arrived for his breakfast I remember wanting to open the door and shout out, ‘have you any idea how beautiful you are! Do you know you’re a goldfinch?!! You’re, like, wow!!!’ And there are so many people I know, who have just no idea how beautiful they are; in their hearts, in their spirits, in their kindness. Coming from my Christian tradition, I believe that God wants us to know how God sees us….and guess what, God thinks we’re wonderful, after all, God made us. Frankly, I think he must often feel like me shouting at the goldfinches… and maybe that’s just one reason he gave us Rabbie Burns, to encourage us all to let others know how wonderful we think they are.