成人快手

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster Salma El-Wardany

Good morning.

Time is passing strangely these days. Damien Echols once said that there鈥檚 no such thing as time. That it鈥檚 nothing but a useful trick; the past existing only in our memory, the future merely a figment of our imagination. That feels truer now than ever before. We鈥檝e stopped the clocks. Closed the calendars. Given up marking the days as we slide into an eternal Sunday; slow and lazy and without anywhere to go.

Many of us feel a loss of purpose; a lack of 鈥榙oing鈥� things; missing the achievements we are taught by society to measure our worth against. We miss being useful to others; our time weighs heavily on our hands.

I have never been particularly good at marking time. The years don鈥檛 stand out to me, only the memories and the places crystallise in my mind. I don鈥檛 remember how old I was, or what year it was, but I remember how we ate sandwiches of egg mayonnaise with grated carrot and ran through St Cuthbert鈥檚 Caves most days that summer.

It is the moments and the feelings that mark my life. Perhaps Echols was right, and what we should hold onto isn鈥檛 lost years, but the comfort of our memories and the promise of tomorrow.

The Quran reminds us of the deeper meaning of time well spent. 鈥淏y the decline of time, truly mankind is in loss. Except for those who do good works and enjoin one another to truth and patience.鈥�

As we wake up to an unusual Bank Holiday, lacking the customary family outings to the countryside or beach, and grandparents sitting alone at home, mourning the loss of a half-term week of joyous jaunts taking care of the grandkids, it feels as if time is redundant.

But it is still passing. And we will laugh and visit the beaches once more. Roam through the countryside and be with the grandparents. We will hold others in our embrace and dance again. Our tomorrows will come, God willing, and bring a wealth of memories and emotions in their wake.

Lord, help us to be grateful and cherish our time whatever it may bring.

Ameen.

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