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Good morning. Today should have been the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. Japan had been gearing up for the last 7 years to be the focus of the world’s attention for this summer’s games, and then, the pandemic struck. Tokyo 2020 has now been delayed to exactly a year after it was due to begin, and for many people, it’s been a difficult adjustment to make. Sports players and athletes spend years in training to be in peak performance for a single fortnight when they can be recognised as the world’s best, and those who were hoping to take part in Tokyo are now instead facing another 12 months of hard work to remain at their pinnacle. This build up to a major event which then hasn’t gone ahead is something that probably all of us have experienced this year. So much of life has been put on hold, and even though lockdown is being relaxed across the country, including further easements in Leicester this morning, we are still coming to terms with how to deal with the life events which have been missed or postponed. From weddings to milestone birthdays, it’s been a difficult process to navigate. Part of the excitement of such events is the countdown to it. But how do we cope when the big day is moved further away to what can seem to be the distant future? Leading religious figures have been pondering the concept of delayed gratification for millennia. Baba Farid is one of the saints whose writings are contained in the Sikh scriptures. A Sufi preacher from the 12th century, he remained a practising Muslim for his life. He lived in Jerusalem for a period of time, spending much of his time in quiet and isolated meditation. His writings resonated deeply with Sikh theology, and in one of his verses, Farid says: “Let patience be your purpose in life; implant this within your being. In this way, you will grow into a great river; you will not break off into a tiny stream” At times, many of us can find waiting longer than we had anticipated to be very challenging, especially if we have been looking forward to the big day for many years. However, I think that we should look at that wait as an opportunity to grow and improve, to be better prepared for when the day finally arrives. The countdown clock may have been reset, but in a year’s time, I’m sure we will look to Tokyo as a strong example of humankind’s ability to be patient in a pandemic.