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Good morning.  I was speaking to someone last week who has a little granddaughter aged two. He described to me how life in his quiet, orderly household changed instantly as soon as the child arrived at their front door.  When the doorbell heralded the entrance of Lucy and her retinue, whatever task he or his wife happened to be engaged in at the moment was immediately abandoned, with no hope of resumption until she had returned home.  

But without knowing it, the child gave her grandparents the gift of her presence. It was a gift which couldn’t be ignored, and one which demanded not only an acknowledgement on their part that she existed, but also that they in turn gave her the gift of their entire presence.  Lucy, like every other two year old, quite naturally demanded the whole of her grandparents’ love and attention for the few hours which they shared. And they were delighted to give it.

In this sense, a relationship with the God of the Bible is far more like a relationship with a two year old toddler than it is like one with a teenager. God isn’t content to spend hours on His own in His room while you and I are busy working, and just pop in to see how He’s doing on a Sunday morning. God makes Himself fully present in our lives through His Spirit, and in return He demands our entire presence, indeed our whole lives.

Oddly, practising being present to God seems to help us be more present to other people too. In this digital age when various devices claim and fracture our attention, to give another human our whole attention can be a rare and precious gift.

Father God, forgive us for the times when we’ve listened with only half our attention, when we’ve bought items without noticing the salesperson, when we’ve spoken when we should have listened, or rushed on instead of pausing. Help us in our busy, distracted world to be people of integrity who have the capacity to give our whole presence to those we encounter, and especially to those we love. Amen.