“Scarlet Ribbons” was a popular song when I was a child. It was a ballad kind of song that began, “I peeked in to say goodnight, when I heard my child in prayer, ‘And for me, some scarlet ribbons, scarlet ribbons for my hair.’” The song then described how the parent searched all night for scarlet ribbons, but he could find none. Yet, when he looked in again on his daughter about dawn, there were scarlet ribbons lying there on her bed.
As a child, the song fascinated me. At that time, our family did not attend church regularly. Sometimes we went to my grandmother’s church, but, as a child, I heard nothing there about a God who would pay attention to a child’s request for something as non-essential as hair ribbons. I was curious about that God.
It sounds foolish, but, honestly, I think the mustard seed of faith was planted in me as much by the picture in my mind of a little girl waking up to see hair ribbons on her bed that she prayed for, as it was by occasional Bible Schools.
Psalm 139
Psalm 139, the Psalm today, could be called the “Scarlet Ribbon” psalm. It is a psalm about God’s personal knowledge of and care for each and every one of us.
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know the whole of it.
Behind me and before, you hem me in
and rest your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
too lofty for me to attain.
Experiencing Psalm 139
Last Friday was First Friday, and our parish has Adoration that day. As I sat and prayed, I let God “probe me and know me.” I was struggling with the ordinary problem of needing to change some eating habits. I’m very fond of eating! I love the taste of a good tomato, the smell of bread baking….you name it, if it has calories, it’s probably a delight of mine. But, lately, ordinary enjoyment of some of the good things in life has moved to depending on food to comfort and relax me. On Friday God and I looked at that. God probed. I’ve learned to embrace, rather than run from, his Spirit when it probes. I needed God’s hand to “hem me in and rest upon me,” because my efforts to change have been feeble and half-hearted.
And so God probed and listened. And, somehow, His scarlet ribbons of both gentleness and truth convinced me to come home and dust off an eating plan that has worked for me in the past. The Wisdom of God guided me.
The Book of Wisdom
Both the first reading from the book of Wisdom and the Gospel today remind me of God’s wisdom. Today’s selection is the beginning of the book of Wisdom. Though the book is called the Wisdom of Solomon, it was written originally in Greek, long after Solomon, less than 200 years before Jesus. In it, God speaks as Wisdom—as practical guidance for living a life by God’s standards and design. It includes concepts of wisdom from both Jewish and Greek thought, and so, in many ways, it prepares the way for the Gospel writers.
As I read today’s reading, I tied it with the psalm and my prayer on Friday. There is a lot to our faith that happens in our mind—in the way we think. Not just what we believe—but the way we think. Today’s selection from Wisdom encourages us to “think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart.” Seek him in integrity of heart….
I think that’s what a penance of fasting, how hard it was when I did a bit of it last week, and the resulting awareness led me to do on Friday: seek God’s wisdom. “Lord, I’m out of balance. I’m not being a good steward. A little effort to fast showed me. What do I do?”–another way of saying, “and for me, some scarlet ribbons, scarlet ribbons for my hair.”
Wisdom in the Gospel
Today’s Gospel consists of some of those little scarlet ribbons gems of wisdom so common in Old Testament wisdom books. Jesus says in quick sequence: (1) Events and people cause sin—it’s part of the fallen state and life (2) but don’t be the person who does it. (3) Especially don’t cause “a little one” to sin. (4) If someone around you sins, correct him—then forgive him. Even if his repentance does not last longer than an hour or two, forgive again and again. (5) You don’t have to have a lot of faith—even a mustard seed’s level of faith is enough to convert you and the world around you.
Put into my theme for today–even a mustard seed’s level of faith is enough to call God into relationship with His Love–as the song “Scarlet Ribbons” did for me, a child in an unchurched family seventy years ago.
The Core
The core of the readings today for me is wonder and delight at how personal, how individual God is. I came home on Friday and wrote out an eating plan. I am working on it. No big angst. A simple thing. A practical thing. A beautiful thing. I’m wearing those scarlet ribbons.
Prayer:
Thank you, Lord, for all the scarlet ribbons you have given me again and again and again. Scarlet ribbons that anticipate my seeking You, that respond to my needs with more than I request, often different from what I first request—yet just exactly right. Help me, now, to wear your scarlet ribbons and be formed yet more and again in Your image, as Your child, in Your Love, by Your Love.
