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Good morning. Today marks the summer solstice – the point in the year when we get the maximum period of daylight – from here on the days will be drawing in.  It’s often called the longest day.
Although I suspect that this year there’ll be some of us who would argue with that description.  
There have been several points, during the months of lockdown when I began to wonder whether my clocks had stopped because the days seemed endless.  And I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in having had that experience.
There are occasions when time can feel a bit elastic. 
How long a day feels depends so much on what is going on – ask someone waiting for the results of medical tests, ask anyone waiting for a baby to arrive, ask a child waiting for its birthday to come.
When you’re waiting and you’re not in control, time drags horribly. But for most of us most of the time, we do actually have control over how we use our time.  It’s all about our choices.
I believe that time is a gift from God – the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament tells us that there are times and seasons for everything.
And I think that the time we can control ourselves is actually a precious resource that many of us often waste – certainly I do.  
Whether it’s friendships we’ve neglected, skills we could have learned, things we could have done and enjoyed.  The gift of time is so easy to take for granted.
So maybe the longest day is a good opportunity for us to think about how we spend our time, and perhaps challenge ourselves to look for ways to use it better whenever we have the chance.
Father, we thank You for the gift of time, may we never undervalue it but use it well as the precious resource it is.  Amen