It is strange how old memories materialise out of nowhere. Reading the passage for today (2 Samuel 6:12-19) I recalled my mother’s smile. With hindsight she always had a happy smile but as a child I considered it to be an abomination. To my shame, now that I am some twenty years older than she was at the time, I remember advising her in those clear terms of a child speaking to an errant parent that when she came to my school, she was never to show her teeth when she smiled. She did her best to comply but it must have hurt to be so coldly disregarded when all she intended was warmth and happiness.
So, what is the connection between my mother’s smile and the Ark of the Covenant? The answer is, of course, the late king Saul’s daughter. The story goes that as the Ark made its progress to the City of David the King, David danced and sacrificed bulls and calves to God. There was music and outpoured joy on all fronts. But not quite everyone rejoiced. Michal, daughter of Saul watched and was very unhappy with the behaviour of the King. It transpires that Michal saw David as debasing himself, or making a fool of himself in front of people to whom she thought he should set an example, not potentially lead astray.
There can be a fine line between the things we do that others misinterpret and our own motives. To read the paper or listen to media commentary about high profile people’s conduct one would be forgiven for thinking this was a new problem. Well hardly – King David was not doing his public dance routine lately but it is the same old story of misinterpretation set against other people’s sensitivities.
Thinking back to my own parenting I feel certain that at time I have caused enormous embarrassment to my children. Habits or behaviours that would be laughed at by peers, pointed out by bosses or ignored by siblings are less easily accepted by growing youngsters wanting to become themselves but knowing they are not quite fully fledged. I was not even in my teens when I found my mother embarrassing; not much more than ten years later she was terminally ill, and ever after I would have been delighted to see that smile again.
A Prayer
Lord, help me to be sensitive about the way I behave and present myself to others but not over sensitive to how others come across to me. Amen.