20th of April 2020

Today's reflection was written by our University Chaplain Reverend Harriet Harris.

Reflection

Each new day is like fresh sand at dawn.

We may feel as though we are caught in Groundhog day, with little chance to differentiate weekends from weekdays, ‘holidays’ from ‘normal’ time, and the prospect of this new reality stretching out for weeks and months.

Yet, as Metropolitan Anthony writes, the day ‘is absolutely new, absolutely fresh. It has never existed before. To speak in Russian terms, it is like a vast expanse of unsoiled snow. No one has trodden on it yet.’ (School for Prayer, p. 86).

Metropolitan Anthony was the Russian Orthodox Archbishop in Britain and Ireland in the 1970s. Being Russian, he speaks of virgin snow. In Scotland at this time of year, we might think equally of coastal sands. Sand is always shifting so that the ground is always new, untrodden, like a new day.

A beach is worked over by the waves during the night, the old is washed away and we can make a completely new imprint. What will we do with our new day, our new start? Who are we in this new day, and what will we bring to it? What will it bring to us?

Ever-creative God

Give us the eyes to see the potential of each new day

Give us the hearts to welcome your new work, within us and within our surroundings, each day

Give us the will to join your creative work each day

And when we are flagging, downhearted, ill, or struck by grief, helps us to know that even our breath makes a change in the sands of this day.