Fascination turned to love

My mother kept her jewellery in a box which, as a small child, I found utterly enchanting. It played music whenever it was opened - a languid, though tinkly waltz - while a little ballerina popped up and pirouetted ever so slowly. The music, I understood, was a love song called Fascination. And Fascination, my love... my mum would croon, before humming or la-la-ing her way through the subsequent bars. Sometimes, whilst I did my wobbly best to imitate the ballerina, she'd sway her way through a few waltz steps, before settling down to choose a necklace or brooch. And then, eventually, the box would be closed, and the ballerina and tinkly music would be put away, until the next time.

Fascination was a word I knew long before I could spell it, or even understand what it meant. And the music? Instantly recognisable, though unheard for decades, it has nested and slept deep within me, awaiting the moment when it would be awoken by the equivalent of a prince's kiss. Which is what happened on Saturday night, when it was the music for one of the waltzes on Strictly Come Dancing... and as Angela and Kai swirled and swayed, memories of tinkly music, Fascination and plastic pirouettes rose up to swirl and sway with them. 

Last night, the music still rising and falling in my head, I found the lyrics, and this version by Nat King Cole. No Fascination, my love... but instead, words describing my journey into God of thirty and more years ago.

It was fascination
I know
And it might have ended
Right then, at the start
Just a passing glance
Just a brief romance
And I might have gone
On my way
Empty hearted

It was fascination
I know...

Fascination turned to love

Yes, it was fascination: I was increasingly captivated, mesmerised by God, and by Jesus; increasingly drawn into a deeper, stronger relationship, and into knowing this God who continued to invite me further. It was fascination, which began with a playful splashing in the shallows of God's immensity, and could have remained there. It could have remained as a passing glance, or a brief romance... it could well have felt enough, though ultimately, it would have left me empty hearted.

But this was a fascination far stronger than a brief romance... because it was a fascination which turned into a call, from Love, to love. A fascination which turned into a journey into the unlimited vastness of Love, and, thirty years ago, became an ongoing journey within that journey, into the Society, and the depths of Jesus' Heart.

And you; on what journeys has fascination taken you...?