蜜芽传媒

Good morning.听Just up the road from where I was born 鈥� near Stirling in central Scotland - is the site of the Battle of Bannockburn where the Scots, led by Robert the Bruce defeated a much bigger English army.听 The battle happened on this day in 1314.

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But something that is said to have happened in the lead up to the battle is perhaps more widely known.听 Robert the Bruce, after some dismal and depressing failures was hiding in a cave when he saw a spider try and repeatedly fail to spin a web.听 But eventually he made it!听 Robert was inspired and his moto from then on is still with us 鈥� 鈥渋f at first you don鈥檛 succeed 鈥� try, try, try again鈥�.

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Good advice then as now 鈥� but something else strikes me about this story.听 Lockdown can often feel very much like being stuck in a cave 鈥� with our lives on hold and feeling pretty uncertain about the future.听

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He was able to use his time in isolation to re-assess the challenges in his life and his ability to tackle them. He emerged from his cave a radically different person from the one who went in 鈥� more focussed, more determined, more confident.听

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And I wonder whether that might not be possible for some of us, too.听 Time out from our lives could be an opportunity as much as a problem.听 Lockdown may be the chance we鈥檝e been missing -听 to look at our lives, our relationships, our priorities, and our problems and how we deal with them.听 The challenges in our lives will still be there when lockdown ends. 听Robert the Bruce still had many battles to fight when he left his cave. The challenges hadn鈥檛 changed; but he had.听 Our challenges may not change; but maybe we can.

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Father God, help us to use the opportunity of lockdown to put the challenges in our lives into a new focus and give us new wisdom and strength to confront them. Amen听

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