Mother Julian, in company with many of the world's greatest mystics, saw true: there is nothing too small to be without him, for by him all things come to be. And yet, by his infinite courtesy, the attribute of God stressed so often by Julian, he does not invade the privacy of his creatures nor forcibly determine their actions. The remarkable randomness of creation shows us how much the process is governed by sheer chance and by the self-governing principles within each creature. But whereas in the lower orders of life chance is as likely to be harmful as beneficial, in the case of us humans everything can ultimately turn out for good, provided we have the staying power to persist despite all discouragement. St Paul's belief that all things work together for good for those who love God (Rom. 8.28) is vindicated time after time when we have the faith to proceed in the darkness. The spiritual aspirant, when looking back on the course of his or her life, sees ever more clearly that nothing was fortuitous, but that everything worked towards increasing proficiency in all aspects of existence. The hard times are there for our strengthening, while the times of plenty allow us to enjoy the fruits of our labour as well as God's greater bounty to all his creatures.

Though the Creator has left his creation free to get on with its own business, the process of evolution in all its intricacies, he has left a spark of himself with us to guide us on our way. But we do not have to follow the light; we can as easily go our own way regardless of the guidance offered, like Adam and Eve or the builders of the Tower of Babel, to say nothing of the repeated apostasies of the children of Israel throughout the entire Old Testament period. This is the nature of sin, which, as Julian was shown, also has its inscrutable part to play in bringing us nearer our Creator. "Thou hast made us for thyself, and the heart of man is restless until it finds its rest in thee", writes St Augustine at the beginning of his Confessions; later he regrets, "Thou wast with me, and I was not with thee". Sin, by humiliating us when its fruits become apparent, clears away the assertiveness of the ego, and makes us more aware of what is going on in our depths. Then we are open to listen intently and hear intelligently what the Holy Spirit within us is telling us.

Julian writes, in chapter 53 of her book: "In every soul that shall be saved is a godly will that never assented to sin, nor ever shall." To amplify this enormous statement, repeated often by the mystics, especially by Meister Eckhart, we see in 1 Timothy 2.4, that it is God's will that all humans should find salvation and come to know the truth. Therefore the "godly will" is present in the apex of the soul, called the spirit, of all of us. But we have to respond to it. Whereas the humbler forms of life proceed unconsciously on their evolutionary path, the human is able to co-operate with the divine will and lift up the whole creation to a new height of excellence. But there is also the potentiality for terrible destruction if self-will prevails. The closer we follow to the divine spark, the more we are motivated by love. In Julian's revelation, recorded in chapter 5 of her book, she saw the whole creation symbolized as a mere hazelnut in the palm of her hand. She marvelled that it did not immediately disintegrate because of its smallness, but was told that it was eternally preserved because God loved it. "And so all-thing hath the being by the love of God. In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it, the second is that God loveth it, the third, that God keepeth it."

May I always remember your providence, Lord, when all is disorder around me and all is turmoil within me. May I remember then especially to lift up my mind to you in prayer, for then alone can I work for your greater design in creation.