A day of pausing, endings and new beginnings

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Haydon Spenceley

Good morning,

Today I am beginning a big day. It is my last day before sabbatical. Also today a long serving and wonderful colleague has their last day of work in my team. A day of pausing, endings and new beginnings. As I say bye for a few months, my colleague is finishing a role after many, many years of faithful service. I hope to return refreshed to work but the team will have a different shape when I do.

All around us people are beginning and ending, pausing, re-setting and restarting. Perhaps it’s a first day for you today, or perhaps it’s a last day, or a moment of pausing before you move to a new role, situation or circumstance. Whatever it is for you and however it feels, be of good cheer. We are not in this alone. God is beside us, has brought us this far and will not leave us now. Not everything in our lives goes to plan, and some things are truly awful and terrible.

My own experience through joy, sorrow, happiness and real pain is that God is trustworthy and kind. I’m finding that life is not as linear or clear-cut as I was told (in Church) when I was a young person. I’m also finding though that in the messiness and sometime confusion there is greater beauty than anyone ever told me about. I hope you spot some of that beauty as you go about your day today.

Father, thank you for the beauty of the everyday, of the spectacular and all in between. Help me to spot it today and, as I do, to see something of your life and love.

Amen