Main content
21/02/2015
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Dr Janet Wootton.
Last on
Sat 21 Feb 2015
05:43
成人快手 Radio 4
The Revd Dr Janet Wootton
Good morning
I wonder, as you wake on this February morning, whether you鈥檙e yearning for the past, contemplating the day ahead, or worrying about the future. It鈥檚 going to depend partly on the circumstances you鈥檙e facing. But it鈥檚 also in our natures to be dwellers in the past, the present or the future.
A book by Graham Adams has incidentally (because that is not what the book is about) helped me to understand that it is not so much about which time frame we live in, as how honest we are about it.
Someone who lives in the past can tend to see it as a golden era, forgetting or ignoring any wrong that was suffered and done. Living in the present can often mean drifting along in a daily routine, unthinkingly shut off from a world of diversity and change. People like me, who are constantly driving into the future, are in danger of trying to force the world to conform to our ideals, never mind anyone else.
Into such diverse lives and temperaments, God comes, to confront our natural dishonesty, and transform us. With God鈥檚 help, we dare to see the past with clear eyes, and seek reconciliation and forgiveness. In God鈥檚 love, we allow ourselves to be shaken out of complacency. And under God鈥檚 gentle guidance, we can take a rest from changing the world whether it likes it or not, and work with others and with God.
Timely and eternal God, we thank you for all the times of our lives. Recollect to us the good we have known and done; forgive us for our wrongs; help us to walk with you into bright futures, and give us the hours of this day to treasure and enjoy.
Amen
I wonder, as you wake on this February morning, whether you鈥檙e yearning for the past, contemplating the day ahead, or worrying about the future. It鈥檚 going to depend partly on the circumstances you鈥檙e facing. But it鈥檚 also in our natures to be dwellers in the past, the present or the future.
A book by Graham Adams has incidentally (because that is not what the book is about) helped me to understand that it is not so much about which time frame we live in, as how honest we are about it.
Someone who lives in the past can tend to see it as a golden era, forgetting or ignoring any wrong that was suffered and done. Living in the present can often mean drifting along in a daily routine, unthinkingly shut off from a world of diversity and change. People like me, who are constantly driving into the future, are in danger of trying to force the world to conform to our ideals, never mind anyone else.
Into such diverse lives and temperaments, God comes, to confront our natural dishonesty, and transform us. With God鈥檚 help, we dare to see the past with clear eyes, and seek reconciliation and forgiveness. In God鈥檚 love, we allow ourselves to be shaken out of complacency. And under God鈥檚 gentle guidance, we can take a rest from changing the world whether it likes it or not, and work with others and with God.
Timely and eternal God, we thank you for all the times of our lives. Recollect to us the good we have known and done; forgive us for our wrongs; help us to walk with you into bright futures, and give us the hours of this day to treasure and enjoy.
Amen
Broadcast
- Sat 21 Feb 2015 05:43成人快手 Radio 4
"Time is passing strangely these days..."
Uplifting thoughts and hopes for the coronavirus era from Salma El-Wardany.