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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Canon Dr Jennifer Smith.

Good Morning.

In recent years I have started to use software to manage my email and diary electronically. Every morning it sends me a daily check in – it reads through my emails and finds phrases like ‘…I’ll get back to you Tuesday,’ or ‘I will send you a copy’, and asks me if I want these things to become tasks for which I will get reminders during the day. Alternately I have the choice to mark them as ‘done’ or ‘remind me tomorrow’ in which case they disappear.

Of course, when I say the software ‘reads’ through my emails, it does not: it simply looks for combinations of words that show I have made a commitment or a promise, or asked for one to be made to me, and puts these in a list with a cheery ‘good morning’ at the top of it.

But the software feels to me like it ‘reads’ my emails. It has become a friendly conscience so I don’t miss things as often.

The irrational thing is I feel I need to apologise or explain when I press ‘remind me later’ for the fourth or fifth day in a row, to do with some small task. I know the software doesn’t click its tongue, or shake its head sympathetically about work I’m avoiding. It’s ‘good morning’ is never passive aggressive. The problem is, the rewards and encouragement it gives me are also an illusion. Its green tick marks and ‘good jobs when I’ve worked through the list are a poor substitute for the real thing.

Today Lord, let us notice the people we are too busy to see. We pray for genuine communication, real relationship. May we see and be seen, as you see us, with love.

Amen.