My mother’s birthday is today. She is 90 years old. I can’t even fathom making it to that age. Some days I don’t think she can believe it either. It makes me wonder where the time has gone, while also reflecting on life.

We’ve had conversations about this birthday. She didn’t want a party or big to-do. Instead, she wanted to have dinner with her family, which includes my brother and our kids. I have another brother who lives out of state, so he wouldn’t have made it, but we would have included him by calling so we were all with Mom at the same time. But due to her health, dinner was postponed. Once we’re through with winter and the weather is nicer, we’ll try again.

Going back to her request to spend time with family, it reminded me that when it comes right down to it, family is important. Yes, I know this because I love my family and love being with them. But how often do we inadvertently allow life to get in the way of quality time? Maybe work or other events we think are important come first and we put family second. When you’re 90, family is everything. All the other distractions of life don’t matter. My mom could have asked for anything, and we would have made it happen, but she chose to be with her family. Why?

Because relationships are important. We see that clearly in the Bible. God wants relationship with His people, and He made a way for that to happen. Start with Genisis and end with Revelation. You’ll see how God had a plan. He created us, loves us, and guides us through this life until we are with Him one day. In the process, God took care of His people, even when they walked out of relationship with Him. He sent His only son to take the sin of the world and die for us, so we could be in right relationship with Him. And now we serve God until we will one day be home with Him for eternity.

In my books, I focus much of the plot around family. It’s a good source of conflict, but in the end, even if they were not close in the beginning of the story, my characters are happy to finally be part of a loving, messy family. As a reader, I’m drawn into these kinds of stories. Family is universal and we can all relate to different scenarios depicting a fictitious family because fiction reflects real life.

In the past few years, I let my career take up much of that family time. It began to bother me and while I was taking a walk one day, I was praying about it. The Holy Spirit spoke to me, telling me to slow down. Get balance in my life, which included making my family a priority. I wasn’t ignoring them or leaving them out of the loop, but I was saying no to outings because I was busy or tired when I should have said yes. Taking that instruction was the best thing to happen. My relationships have been renewed and that has helped me in my general outlook on life.

We shouldn’t wait until we’re 90 to realize what a blessing family is. Perhaps you’ve already figured that out. Good for you. But for those who are so busy building a career and putting family togetherness aside, consider recalibrating. Relationships are what really last. If you sit down to talk with friends or family, what ultimately ends up happening? We reminisce. We talk about those memories that are buried deep inside us. We laugh or cry, or both, but we remember that we were together.

So, I want to say Happy Birthday, Mom. Celebrate the milestone. Thanks for loving your children. May God bless you and keep you healthy until our next family gathering.

Tara Randel is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author. Family values, a bit of mystery and of course, love and romance, are her favorite themes, because she believes love is the greatest gift of all. For more information about her books, visit Tara at www.tararandel.com. Like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TaraRandelBooks. Sign up for Tara’s Newsletter.