1st October 2019

I was stunned to learn recently that the world record for the number of impacts made by a skimming stone was eighty-eight. I think that I may have achieved seven or eight with a good skimmer on a good day at the beach, but eighty-eight is ridiculous. All I can say is that it must have been the most aerodynamic of skimmers, released at the most favourable of angles, launched at most advantageous of velocities, and into the most compliant of waters. What a throw!

But I’ve heard of better, and of a skimmer that’s still making an impact and causing ripples. A widow, whose story is mentioned in the Book, once threw a small copper coin, called a mite, into a sea of silver and gold. And it’s still going, and its impact is still being felt two thousand years later, as it continues to alight upon hearts across the world and perform its holy dance.

That’s the marvel. Not just its perpetual motion and incredible reach, but the impact that it makes in each soul upon which it falls. Causing a ripple. Stirring it to devotion. Inspiring it to give its all to God, like the one who first threw it, and like the One who first saw it thrown. Ironically the widow did not set out to achieve any records; but those who did, fell far short of the mark, and their bigger skimmers have fallen silent years ago.

DM 1^st October 2019