Too Busy

My ageing mother lives alone and enjoys company from family and friends. Her world has shrunk considerably since my father died, and she seldom ventures out of the house except to go to the supermarket and the nearby pharmacy.

Now and then she comments that her children don’t call often enough. But when she said, ‘I get homesick for my children’, a sudden sadness melted my heart and her words prompted me to deeper reflection. Does God feel homesick for us?

The Israelites, God’s chosen people, drifted away time after time; yet God never neglected them. Instead, he provided for them and corrected them. He was patient and fair.

Why? Because the bonds between God and the people he loved brought him tremendous joy.

I suddenly longed to see Mum, to tell her that I loved her, to talk, to laugh and to enjoy her company.

Prayer: Dear Father, please forgive our self-centred busyness. Help us to whittle away the unimportant events that consume our time. Help our actions to reflect what’s in our hearts as we pray, ‘Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.’* Amen