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A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Mark Clavier, Canon Theologian for the Diocese of Swansea & Brecon.

Good morning. There are two sounds that identify Britain perhaps more than any other, and both have to do with time. The first is the famous gong of Big Ben. The second may surprise you: the Greenwich Time Signal, better known as the ‘pips’. These are the six short tones broadcast at one-second intervals by many ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio stations.

The pips were introduced on this day in 1924 to mark the precise hour.

Thanks to wristwatches, smart phones, the time counter on our computer screens, and so forth, we’re constantly aware of the exact time. Seconds, which in the past were a meaningless measurement, can now be experienced as an eternity while waiting for an app to download or we’re put on hold.
Such precision can make time a tyrant. Our minds weren’t made to be governed so precisely. That’s why when we read, play music, do art, or go for long walks, we can feel delightfully free, like convicts on furlough.

If that’s true for you, then perhaps the next time you hear those pips, don’t think to yourself, ‘Oh dear, is that the time!’ but ‘What can I do today to forget all about time?’

That’s, at least, how I intend to mark this anniversary.

Eternal Father, help us to see time not as a tyrant but as your gift to us so that we may fill that time with loving actions rather than selfish desires and with loving intentions rather than anxious thoughts. Amen.