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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with George Craig, a Methodist local preacher in Cardiff.

Good morning. There have always been celebrities – mostly people whose achievements - good or bad – have got them into the public eye and set them apart to be admired or vilified by the rest of society.

Slightly bafflingly these days there do seem to be an astonishing number of people who are famous just for being famous – being a celebrity seems to have become a career in itself!

But alongside the professional celebrities there are still good old fashioned people, in sport, music and other areas who are famous because they are really good at what they do. Their achievements certainly haven’t come overnight and have frequently taken years of very hard work before they found any success or recognition – but they stand as an inspiration for the rest of us.

That thought struck me when I discovered that this day in 1865 was the first-class cricket debut of one of the acknowledged giants of the game – W G Grace. He was a celebrity in every sense of the word and as a 16-year-old boy he was already celebrated enough to be invited to play for the Gentlemen of the South v the Players of the South at Kennington Oval, London. And he was out for a duck!

I have to admit to feeling a bit guilty that finding that out cheered me up quite a lot.

But it is I think legitimate to be reassured that even the best have to start somewhere and even they have their off days.

If W G Grace started with a duck, then maybe the challenges that we are facing are not going to stop us learning and improving.

Father God, I thank you for the example of great men and women who show us that we should never be discouraged by failure – just spurred on to do better next time.
Amen

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