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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Richard Littledale

Good morning.

Today is Saturday – a good day for odd jobs, and I have a dilemma. Just about a year ago, part-way into what we affectionately refer to as Lockdown I, my son and I set ourselves a weekend activity. We had decided to decorate our front window in support of the beloved NHS. He printed all the letters for the message ‘thank you NHS’ out in outline on the computer. I then painted them blue, and he cut them out. We then stuck them on the window for all to see. Over the months, it has drawn many comments, and people often stopped to look. Inside the house, the morning sun projects the letters as shadows on the wall each day.

The trouble is, the letters are showing their age. Thirteen months of exposure to the daylight has made the paper brittle, and it is starting to curl at the edges. That bright, hand-painted blue is fading fast, and it won’t be long before they stop sticking to the glass. Not only that, but almost all the other rainbows and stickers have disappeared from the other houses up and down the road.

Hence, my dilemma. Should I take them down or leave them up? Realistically, it is unlikely that the morale of the NHS will be adversely affected by one front room window in Berkshire. Then again, to take them down feels like saying that I am no longer grateful.

It seems to me that short-term gratitude is easy, whereas we have more of a problem with the long term. ‘Bless the Lord, o my soul’ the psalmist says ‘and forget not all his benefits’. The truth is, we tend to forget if do not seek to remember.

Dear God, today I pray that you would make me truly grateful for your many blessings. Forgive my spiritual amnesia, I pray.

Amen.