Â鶹Éç

Good  Morning. Saturday’s child, the old rhyme tells us, works hard for a living. Even at the weekend, whether at work or at home, there’s a strong pull towards busy, busy, busy.  We are proud of our full diaries. ‘I do not know how I had time to work’ is a frequent refrain of the retired.  No wonder Madeleine Bunting, in her book about how the overwork culture is ruling our lives, aptly calls us ‘Willing Slaves’ .  The laptop on holiday, the permanently ringing mobile- busyness is the sign of status.   Even quality time with our nearest and dearest becomes another appointment to book in the diary.

We are worlds away from Aristotle’s idea that ‘only in leisure are we at our most human’.   But this is not only a problem for our digital age. In the 1900s we find the Methodist minister George Macdonald reminding people: ‘Work is not always required of humanity. There is such a thing as sacred idleness the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected’.

Moments of idleness, sacred idleness, are to be sought and treasured.  They provide time to notice what is around us - what is really important. ‘Look at the lilies of the field, they toil not nor do they spin’  says Jesus.

Lord, help us today to pause amidst our busyness; to enjoy the present moment; to dream of a world transformed by justice, equality and love. Inspire us to follow those dreams. Amen.