A moment to savour

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Luke 12.34

Yesterday I visited my father in hospital. He was so frail that for most of the time his eyes were closed and his voice was inaudible. My mother was with me and we talked and prayed with him and "showed" him family photos on an iPhone. Research suggests that dementia-sufferers like my father respond well to music, so we sang: Amazing Grace, the 23rd Psalm in Gaelic (he liked that!). Then I played my trump card...

It was Annice's idea that I should try him on the 12 Days of Christmas. We got all the way up to 12 Drummers drumming and then, on the way back down, I think it was at 10 Lords a' leaping, his eyes shot open! It was just for a moment but it was as if he was suddenly present.

I'm on my way home now and the road is long. But the journey was worth it. Following that poignant visit I spent an evening with my sister and members of her family. There was plenty of reminiscing and anticipating what might happen next. And it was all good. Some things can't be rushed. They might not be economically productive, they might not change anything, but they are invaluable threads in the fabric of family life: the gift of God.