I HAVE just returned home after a week away at a large Christian festival in the West Country.

As I’ve reflected on that week away I’ve realised that it also involved quite a lot of that wonderful British tradition – the queue. I queued in a traffic jam on the A303 on both the way to the event and on the way back. I queued for the toilets and the shower, I queued for coffee, and I queued for chips.

Queuing seems to be an inevitable part of modern life, and it can be frustrating and seem like a total waste of valuable time that could be better spent. But I wonder whether, in our hectic and busy lives, we could look at the time we spend in queues differently and more creatively?

Perhaps we could see that time as an opportunity to step back from all the rush and hurry, as a time to think or pray, as a time to listen to some music, as an opportunity to strike up a conversation that might really bless someone else. Maybe then we might see the queue that we find ourselves in as an unexpected gift from God.