Dear Friends,
I trust you are all keeping safe and well.
As I write, the country is celebrating the 100th birthday of Captain, now Colonel, Tom Moore and his remarkable achievements in raising so much money for our wonderful NHS. At the age of 99 one might have thought that he would want to take it easy. But not a bit of it. He set himself a task which must have taken a great deal of energy and will-power on his part. In it he has captured the imagination of the nation as well as achieving far more than he could possibly have imagined. Congratulations and well done to him!
It is, of course, very important for us to do our best to keep fit during this period of lockdown, and Poppy and I have achieved our goal of walking five miles or more every day, whilst also observing the social distancing rules. I have to say she is a lot more tired than I am! What I have also discovered is that I can walk more than .25 of a mile up and down my hallway during the adverts on television. And Ron tells me that if I climbed my stairs 450 times I would have climbed the equivalent of Ben Nevis!
But if it is important to keep physically fit, it is also important to keep mentally fit. People tell me they are doing a lot more reading, crossword puzzles, and puzzles of all kinds than they would normally do. And I am doing a lot more writing than I would normally do! And of course, our NHS staff and our research scientists are exercising their intellects on our behalf in trying to find a vaccine to prevent Covid 19 and effective treatments for those who contract it. We owe them a great debt of gratitude.
Physical and mental fitness are very important, but so many people forget about their spiritual fitness. It is so important to keep our relationship with God in Christ in good order, and our service on Sunday to some extent addresses this thought as we think about one of the great ‘I am’ saying of Jesus. Our daily Prayer Points contain a subject for prayer relevant to this time, together with a verse of scripture for meditation. A lot of my walking time is spent in prayer and meditation, and I am sure you too can find ways of keeping yourself spiritually fit in both word and action. So, let us all do our utmost to keep physically, mentally and spiritually fit, so that when all this ends we will be ready for the new challenges that will lie ahead.
With love and blessings
Marion