Wednesday 28 October 2009

It's a long time since I last did the primary school run, because my sons are all far too old for it now. The other day, though, I had a meeting with the local headteacher first thing in the morning, so I found myself in amongst the throng of parents. It's a busy place, and you have to watch out for your ankles in amongst the buggies, and your shins in the onslaught of parents coming home on children's scooters!

By the time I got there, the flow was thinning out a little, and I turned the corner onto the last road before the school. Heading towards me was a young man carrying a baby in a sling on his chest. I was touched to see that the man was apparently gazing with great concentration into the eyes of his baby. Oblivious to all the world around, they appeared to be locked in a precious father-baby moment.

It was only when I got closer that the picture changed. The man was not, in fact gazing lovingly into the eyes of his baby. He was concentrating on his mobile phone, checking its messages as he held it behind the baby's head. Oh dear! I suppose I could make all sorts of clever comments about modern life and how we are all too busy. But we are busy - and no-one more than the parents of young children. Lots of them have to juggle career, parenting and childcare arrangements in the time it takes the rest of us to get up and pour our first cup of coffee. If a parent is that busy we should be wondering how we should help rather than rushing to criticise.

I hope the man does get some time to gaze into his baby's face though. Tiny children learn their first lessons about how to read people by those precious face-to-face moments. When parents come into my church to dedicate their new babies, I always use an ancient Jewish blessing. It runs like this:

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you. May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you his peace.

It's a lovely picture really - God bringing his face close to us as if looking at a baby in a pram - giving us the chance to read his face like that of our own father.

Whatever your day holds today - even if you're listening to the radio whilst doing half a dozen other things - I offer that blessing to you today.