Ants in your Pants!

Meal times in the Deans' house is a sight, or should that be a sound, not to be missed! We all know the theory of sitting together and sharing a family meal, talking through the events of the day and sharing a few precious moments together in the business of life! We try to sit down together every day and make our time a priority, but it is often not always plain sailing! My children, I must concede, have the famous 'ants in your pants' syndrome & struggle to remain still on their bottoms for more than just a few minutes! As a parent it can be so frustrating! You spend time preparing food, and look forward to eating, talking and enjoying it together. Instead, all you find youself doing is reiterating orders. 'Keep your feet under the table', 'Use your knife and fork', 'Take it in in turns to talk', 'Keep your voices down', and 'For goodness sake SIT STILL!', to name but a few! No sooner have they sat to the table than someone needs the loo, or attempts to disappear off for one random reason or another. The distractions advancing on their attention spans are countless, and mealtimes often end up being less than the happy social occasion they were designed to be!

In the same way we are God's children, the Bible tells us that he has prepared a table before us. He wants us to sit, to wait, to talk with and listen to him, not to fidget, to be easily distracted or leave the table before we have finished, or before he has finished with us. I was reminded the other day of the story of Mary and Martha, two of Jesus' close friends. When Jesus goes to their house for dinner Martha rushes around doing stuff while Mary just sits, at his feet, listening to him. I admit, I relate to Martha. I can be a bit of a 'doer' & can find it all too easy to busy around filling my life with activity. It is good to work, indeed God designed us to do just that, but it is not good to be busy at the expense of more important things! As Jesus said, Mary had 'chosen what is better'. God loves us, and he is patient when we fail, but his desire is to be with us and for us to be with him. He has great things to share with us, blessings for us to own and things for us to do, if we will just take the time first to stop, wait and listen to him. Let's prioritise time to sit at Jesus' feet, listen to his voice and enjoy being his friend & not, like Martha, in the business of life neglect what is better. Let us banish the ants!!!!!!