Having small children is one of those strange, near-universal experiences that feels almost impossible to describe.

Mostly, it feels like going mad. Tragically and beautifully mad.

It’s not hard to see why. Tiny jabbering people are running around your legs - their words are foreign yet familiar. You are filled with a sense that if you could just reach into the back of your mind and catch the hazy memories of childhood, you might be able to translate some of what they are saying.

But you can’t do that, and any snippets of meaning gleaned from the enchanted wasteland of parenting are only the harbingers of your children’s growth: a beautiful tragedy that can’t be stopped. You are torn in two, and there is nothing in the entire universe that will hold your children in place and give you just a few more moments with the persons they are now.

At some point, you - or more precisely I - realized the only reasonable response to parenting was to start a blog. And so here we are: Welcome to The Hollow Whale.

How did we get here?

Well, maybe you did exactly what God asked of you, setting out for Nineveh without a second thought. You tied your sandals, buckled your belt and rushed off to bring the pagans the vengeance and Love of God. (Yes, we are still talking about parenting.)

But this is, of course, unlikely - and we know it. We are more like Jonah than Christ. Both descended into the unknown depths, but only one deserved it. And that is us.

This has been on my mind. When I am unable to sleep because a small foot has lodged itself in my ear, or I step in something on the bathroom floor that is definitely not water, I find self-pity is close at hand. Why, God, must I suffer? Do I deserve this?

While the belly of the whale is not always the most comfortable, I have found it to be safe. No fires, but I’ve still found some fish to eat while I ponder why I’m here.

Gratitude is ultimately what saved Jonah, and that is, I suppose, what I hope this blog will offer to heaven. Attention is an aspect of Love, and using words to attend to the things God has given me, be they the extraordinary sacramental Grace of parenting or everything I see in the world around me, I hope The Hollow Whale offers a record of those beautiful things.

I offer this record not just to God but to you, dear reader, as a token of Christian Charity.

Peace.