麻豆约拍

Good morning. It seems to me that as soon as the television adverts for the sales are over, those for summer holidays begin, and tempting scenes of beautiful people on tropical beaches basking in warm sunshine under clear blue skies fill our screens. Whether we opt for anything quite so exotic or not, there鈥檚 no doubt that it鈥檚 good to have a holiday to look forward to, and I鈥檓 not just thinking selfishly of the clergy so soon after what everybody insists on telling us must be our 鈥渂usy time of year鈥�.聽

The Gospels tell us that even Jesus needed from time to time to get away from it all, all the people clamouring to hear him and be healed by him, all the pressure of the scribes and the Pharisees testing him and trying to catch him out. He would sail to the other side of the lake, climb to the highest point of a mountain or withdraw to the wilderness. It didn鈥檛 always work, he couldn鈥檛 always escape the people or the pressure but every so often he managed to take time out to rest and reflect, to pray and prepare for all that lay ahead. And then refreshed and restored he came back across the lake or down from the mountain-top or in from the wilderness, and got on with it.聽

Lord God, help us today to make time for you, even for a moment or two to rest and reflect, to pray and prepare for all the challenges and opportunities that will come our way. And help us to remember that you are with us every step we take, and all this we ask for Jesus鈥� sake. Amen.