大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Right Revd Mary Stallard, Bishop of Llandaff.

Good morning. Well I鈥榲e managed to do it again: there鈥檚 just a few weeks before the Cardiff half-marathon and I鈥檓 having to cram a lot of training into a short space of time.

I did the same thing last year, thinking I could raise money for a good cause and get fitter into the bargain. I completed the race somehow last year, but regretted my lack of preparation. I don鈥檛 want to risk injury so I intended to train carefully this time with a proper schedule. I鈥檇 learn from the past and do better second time around.

But I鈥檓 slowly learning that in a number areas of my life - including prayer, reading and improving my Welsh - making progress is hard work and there鈥檚 a lot of failure involved.

It鈥檚 a comfort to me that the same struggle鈥檚 reflected in Christian experience from the earliest times. The author of the letter to the Hebrews talks about the particular things that each one of us struggles with repeatedly in our lives. And helpfully for me right now, the image used to describe this is running in a race.

The writer says we鈥檙e not alone in our struggles, 鈥渟o let us lay aside...the sin which so easily besets us and run with patience the race that is set before us.鈥�

I find encouragement in these words that remind me not to seek to be perfect, but to be accepting of whatever it鈥檚 possible for me to offer.

God of beginnings and endings, you know everything about our lives, and you always love us. Help us to be patient, to learn from failure and to be thankful for blessings. Keep us faithful to our calling and always ready to offer encouragement to others. Amen.