Gratitude for Emergency Services

Available for over a year

Good morning. Bank Holiday Mondays are funny things to me. On the one hand the opportunity - for most - of an extra day off or an extended weekend is a great gift. Especially so in our culture which does not seem to value pausing, resting or stepping aside from everyday life. Even as I say this though, two thoughts come to mind. One is that every work week which includes a Bank Holiday is an increased challenge for me. If I take the rest day then I always seem to end up with a sense that I need to fit the work of a full working week, in to 20% less time. That is not fun. It’s also not strictly true but a pressure that I seem to put on myself. Why do I do this? Who knows, but it is quite deeply ingrained within me. The second awareness about Bank Holidays which I have become increasingly conscious of, and this one is perhaps more important than my own more self-involved musings, is that they’re not available to everyone. So many people are so busy serving us in statutory, medical or emergency services, that they would barely notice the loudly trumpeted and benevolent gift of a public holiday. If you are one of those people listening to this this morning, thank you for all you do for your community and for society as a whole. Father, thank you that you invite us to work together, all together, for the common good. Thank you for those who work today so others can rest, I pray that rest might come for them too, and soon. Make this a holy day for us all, I pray. Amen.