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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Dr Marika Rose

Good morning. Lots of us at this time of the year are getting ready to go back to work. Some are just back from holiday and are putting off the final bits of unpacking. Some are waiting for school or university terms to start. Many of us are waiting for the pace of work to pick up as we head towards autumn and eventually – sorry to bring it up so early! – the Christmas season. Some of us are excited for a new season of dark evenings and snuggling up cosily at home; and others of us are dreading it.

It’s a good time to take stock. What have we brought back with us from holidays that we’d like to carry with us into normal life and which things don’t seem so important now we’re home, like the food which tastes amazing while you’re lounging around by the pool but isn’t quite so appetizing once it’s been dragged home sweatily in your suitcase? How have travel, and rest, helped us to imagine different ways of being in our bodies, with our friends, in our homes and at work Perhaps some things that used to seem essential now seem less important? As the dust has settled in our lives while we’ve been away, there are bound to be parts of our daily habits and routines that could do with shaking up a bit.

God we ask that you would help us to take the lessons of summer with us into September. Help us to stand back a little - to rethink our relationship to work and to rest; help us to love our bodies in work clothes as well as in shorts and swimsuits; help us to relish the time we spend with loved ones at home as well as away. Amen.