It’s Mother’s Day today so I’ve been musing about the mothering thing. My ‘children’ are all grown up now, and the thing I enjoy most about mothering is the opportunity to just spend time with each one, talking about this and that - what bothers them, their plans, their successes and disappointments and so on.

I’ve been seeing a lot of my daughter lately, because she is going through a particularly sad time personally; and she is also in the process of changing her job, so there is lots of uncertainty over interviews and prospective employers, etc. It has involved a lot of phone calls and visits home, and although it has been a tricky time in many ways, especially for her, I have seen more of her than usual and that has been a big plus for me! Only yesterday she phoned to see if I was around and as it happened I could be flexible with my plans, so we had a lovely time sitting in the sun in the garden having lunch and then walking up to the shops together to buy some paints and canvases. Her tricky time has been my blessing because I have enjoyed so much time with her!

It got me thinking that my relationship with my heavenly Father works in very much the same way; when I have an issue in my life I spend much more time in prayer and listening for His voice than when life is going swimmingly. Maybe my Father in heaven really enjoys that too? Why should I wait till something has gone wrong before I spend long periods of time with Him? It’s so easy to sink into the busy-ness of life and squeeze out time with God alone, on the pretext of doing other so-called important jobs. I so want to know and feel God’s favour and there’s only one way to do that – and it’s a word spelt TIME.