15 minutes. That’s what I’ve given myself to write this. Never done anything like this before and wonder whether I’ll have to stop mid sent- …

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Sometimes the weeks get on top of you and sometimes at the beginning of the week you can just see the mountain in front of you – all the tasks to do – and you know the time it takes to do them. So you take a deep breath and get going. It isn’t healthy to be a workaholic – who lies on their death bed wishing they’d spent more time at work? – and I’m think-ing ‘Actually some people just might do that’ if it brings happiness and fulfilment. We were made to work – Adam was expected to tend the garden before the fall into sin – but work has now be-come hard, a trial, frustrating at times. Of course we tell our children to find something they like doing – a bit difficult if they are also told that a lot of jobs they will do have not been invented yet! Nevertheless balance and moderation are prized for a well rounded life – but that seems to challenge the idea that mastery comes with 10,000 hours. Martin Lu-ther is associated with a quote – which may be somewhat apocryphal – that he had so much work to do that he had to pray three hours first. The idea of work and prayer is a strong one within Christianity – and quite Benedictine – and brought into a different focus I think with Luther’s teaching on vocation – how we serve God and our neighbour where we stand (ie. in our relationships in the family, the workplace, the country, and the church). And yet through all this Jesus is with us – walking with us to our daily Emmaus and each week calling us to his table where he is the host. I do very much like Luke 24 – a chapter in which can be found so much theology and also daily experiences of what following Jesus is about – not understanding things, getting on with life – the day’s routines have to be done, yet still drawn to God’s Word and warmed and encouraged by it, and then those mo-ments when all of a sudden God’s grace or Jesus or Baptism or Holy Communion unexpectedly ‘hits’ us and for a moment – hopefully longer – we are struck by the resurrection reality and that Jesus is real and hidden but here. Of course this ‘experience’ ebbs and flows and rests on faith – a trust that Jesus speaks the truth ‘I love you’ and ‘Don’t be afraid’.

I glance at the computer’s clock and realise I failed! (I was interrupted by a brief phone call I console myself.) I calculate 22 minutes … sigh! Enough.

Thanks Jesus for being with me in those minutes … and always.
GS