‘Mummy!’ My daughter’s middle-of-the-night whimper drags me from my cocoon of sleep. She is up yet again with a flu bug that won’t leave her alone, even at two in the morning. 

Her cries awaken compassion in my sleepy heart, and I use my gentlest touch and my softest voice to make her comfortable again. I pull her blanket up, smoothing her hair with my hand. ‘Go to sleep now,’ I soothe. ‘Everything’s all right.’ She sighs contentedly and closes her eyes.

Back in my own bed, I remember a phrase: the mother heart of God. 

I have heard the phrase before, but tonight I understand it in a new way. It means I am not alone. I feel alone sometimes. When I am the one with the flu or when I wake up in the dark after a bad dream, I long for my mother’s presence and help. I still need her, even though I am 35 and years gone from her house. I think I will always need her special love and protection. 

It comforts me to think that, although my earthly mother is not at my bedside tonight, God, with the heart of a mother, listens for my cry. God whispers, ‘Go back to sleep now. Everything’s all right. I’m here.’

Prayer: Help us to depend on you, dear God, as a child depends on his or her mother. Amen