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02/05/2015
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Dr Mike Ford.
Last on
Sat 2 May 2015
05:43
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4
Script
Good Morning.
It might well have been a case for Edward Marston’s railway detective.  Two black trolley bags, identical in design, shape and weight, are travelling close to their passengers on the 8.50 Cardiff Central to Manchester Piccadilly. Somewhere along the line the cases are mistaken. Opening mine an hour or so later, I find myself staring in disbelief at layers of women’s attire and shiny patent shoes. Then I blush even more. If the lady’s taken mine, she’ll be in an even greater surprise - a black cassock, white collar and a number of devotional accoutrements.The experience set me thinking that discovering our true path in life can be equally baffling. While some people never doubt the route mapped out for them, others aren’t so sure that God has blueprints. They’re convinced at first they’re following the path mapped out for them and couldn’t possibly mis-read it. But then they turn out to be wrong. The psychological can so easily masquerade as the spiritual when we’re learning the ways of God – and of ourselves.I once set out hesitantly on a course of action which many believed was my true vocation and they persuaded me for a while. But it was only by experiencing what I wasn’t called to that I realised my real calling was actually what I’d been doing all along. I just needed, as it were, a new set of clothes.  Like the black case on the 8.50 to Manchester, I was convinced the vocation was mine for a while but then I realized I was in fact mistaken. So this morning we bring before God all our errors of judgment, and ask for the confidence to use our mistakes to deepen our relationship with him. Amen.
It might well have been a case for Edward Marston’s railway detective.  Two black trolley bags, identical in design, shape and weight, are travelling close to their passengers on the 8.50 Cardiff Central to Manchester Piccadilly. Somewhere along the line the cases are mistaken. Opening mine an hour or so later, I find myself staring in disbelief at layers of women’s attire and shiny patent shoes. Then I blush even more. If the lady’s taken mine, she’ll be in an even greater surprise - a black cassock, white collar and a number of devotional accoutrements.The experience set me thinking that discovering our true path in life can be equally baffling. While some people never doubt the route mapped out for them, others aren’t so sure that God has blueprints. They’re convinced at first they’re following the path mapped out for them and couldn’t possibly mis-read it. But then they turn out to be wrong. The psychological can so easily masquerade as the spiritual when we’re learning the ways of God – and of ourselves.I once set out hesitantly on a course of action which many believed was my true vocation and they persuaded me for a while. But it was only by experiencing what I wasn’t called to that I realised my real calling was actually what I’d been doing all along. I just needed, as it were, a new set of clothes.  Like the black case on the 8.50 to Manchester, I was convinced the vocation was mine for a while but then I realized I was in fact mistaken. So this morning we bring before God all our errors of judgment, and ask for the confidence to use our mistakes to deepen our relationship with him. Amen.
Broadcast
- Sat 2 May 2015 05:43Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4