Open arms

We passed a mum berating her son yesterday “you only want a cuddle when you're in trouble” and my heart went out to them both. The mum who would clearly like to snuggle with her boy much more often and in all kinds of circumstances; and the lad, who like us all, could do with tons of affection and closeness when we've mucked up. It put me in the mind of elbow's open arms and the line “the moon wants a scrap or a cuddle”. Sometimes we can't quite work out what we want, we need to engage somehow and don't quite know how to do it, so sometimes end up in conflict, when really we'd like to get close. I'm so lucky, I sat cuddling my boy throughout today's church service, and know lots of people with open arms, willing to accept me just the way I am. I do know times when I'm feeling huffy and the last thing I feel like doing is throwing my arms wide and embracing the people who have upset me. But life's too short not to.

So here's to all the arms we encounter being ever available – and most of all, the only ones we have any control over – our own!