Transported - Margaret Of Scotland

1045–93

In Scotland there are towns named North Queensferry and South Queensferry. The namesake queen was Margaret of Scotland, and she set up the ferry to help pilgrims cross the Firth of Forth to get to a Benedictine monastery. It seems appropriate that she’d be known for transportation, because she was often on the move.

In 1045 Margaret was born into the English royal family . . . but she was born in Hungary. Her father, known as Edward the Exile, was a potential successor to the British throne, but “potential successors” had a way of dying, so he had been whisked off to Scandinavia, then to Hungary, which had just gone through a religious awakening. As a result, Margaret was brought up in a very pious environment.

When she was about twelve, her family traveled back to England. Though her father soon died, her brother was in line for the throne—but all bets were off when William the Conqueror struck in 1066. Margaret’s family fled again, eventually ending up in Scotland. There she married King Malcolm III.

He was a warrior, not especially religious (Shakespeare correctly depicts him as a vengeful opponent of Macbeth). Margaret brought into Scottish life not only her Anglo-Saxon ways and Continental style, but also her deep faith. An ancient biographer tells how she read Bible stories to her husband and urged him to rule justly. Known for charitable works and personal devotion, she welcomed the spiritual disciplines of the Benedictine order into the kingdom. She died in 1093, shortly after learning of the death of her husband and eldest son in battle.

There’s an old comic line that says, “Wherever you go, there you are.” It was true of Margaret, and it should be true of us. Whether in Hungary, England, or Scotland, Margaret seems to have been fully present, learning the ways of God or sharing them. The ups and downs of our lives may propel us to different places, different jobs, and different relationships, but God is still with us in all of them, and he calls us to serve him wherever we’re transported.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. . . . I can never get away from your presence!

Psalm 139:2, 3, 7