in between times

Being a parent to teenagers often feels like you are living in the gaps. I am thinking very practically here - for example I dropped three teens off an hour ago and will leave in 45 minutes to retrieve them. Giving me a gap of about an hour and a half in-between. This is not unusual - the running too and fro and deciding what to fit into which piece of time and when just to give up and watch bits and pieces of television programmes - because you are always arriving after the beginning or leaving before the end of any sort of regular programming slot.
But in-between has a lot to be said for it. I remember at the beginning of my ministry being told that the real ministry happens in in-between times - in those little moments here and there where someone pops in or just happens to be somewhere. Some folk use the phrase - ministry is in the interuptions - but either way it is those unscripted and unexpected encounters which prove to be so fruitful.
But then should that be so surprising - after all most of our life is sort of in-between. Whilst we plot ourselves out with birthdays and weddings, with parties and celebrations - the simple fact is that most of our time is inbetween - and it is open to encounter and richness which often, if we are honest, does not come from the big splash red letter days.
In this harvest season we give thanks for that which sustains us - and perhaps we should thank God for those inbetween moments, those moments of calm when we are not rushing and running, those moments where we see glimpses of glory and notice each other just a little bit more. Perhaps even slow down and notice those times - smell the roses, and the apples and flowers in church - inbetween everything else.