In an act of desperation my colleagues asked me to represent the ‘firm’ at the launch of an Islington primary school. Unbeknownst to me the guest of honour was Yusuf Islam. After a particularly cute rendition from the pupils of ‘Morning has Broken’ complete with sign language, he came and spoke. He talked about how he changed his name to Yusuf because it’s another form of the name Joseph and recounted the entire story of Joseph from the Old Testament (or wherever it is in the Koran). He explained he felt like Joseph because he’d recognised many changes in his life and that the pupils of the school had much in store too. Some of it would be hard but there was also a lot to look forward to so they should be excited about all the things they could do and be.
Like Yusuf implied, change is part and parcel of life. It’s hard sometimes though. Recently I found my sidekick, Larry, in much distress:
Larry, too, has had many changes in his life. Born in a lobster factory in the USA, he grew up at La Cite de la Mer, Cherbourg, before moving to York. In London, I selected him to be my sidekick at church. He’s enjoying the new challenge of being an outreach project lobster but finds London has neither the closeness of the lobster factory or the carefree socialising he experienced in France. He trusts me because I’ve been with him ever since I bought him but sometimes he finds it hard to do what he’s been asked to do and feels lonely. Last week he got so sad that he began to cry big lobster tears while I was away. Fortunately, my colleague Rebekah was there to comfort him. She said first of all he needed to tell me how he was feeling because I cared about him and would sympathise, so she wrote down his message to me on a piece of paper so I could read it. When I saw it I gave him a big hug and said I’m sorry he felt so stranded. I reassured him that moving to a new place is hard but he was doing a good job and would settle in soon.
Since then I told him about what Yusuf said. Larry doesn’t have a great Bible knowledge but he found it encouraging that things can get better as well as worse. I’ve reassured him that you don’t have to change your name every time something new happens. A much more sensible policy is to enjoy the up times and trust during the low times that you’ve been placed where you are by someone much bigger than you. At this point Larry added, “and they don’t get much bigger than you, do they?” Even my stuffed toys make tall jokes. I bet Wonder Woman never had this problem.
