Wait a Minute, Mr Postman
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Reverend Mariama Ifode-Blease, associate priest at St James’s Piccadilly and chaplain to the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry.
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Mariama Ifode-Blease.
Good morning.
I’ve had a love affair with the post office for as long as I can remember. Family and friends know for example, that I’ve always chosen where to live, based on its distance from the nearest post office.
It’s hard to pin down when the post office became so important to me. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been blessed by friends, who lived overseas, since I was a teenager. Perhaps it’s because I’ve had great epistolary friendships, choosing the pen over the keyboard.
So, the building came to symbolise connection, and friendship, and happy memories. Through postcards, letters, birthday and Christmas cards, I’ve felt the post office, as central to my wellbeing. There’s something about getting a letter in the post, that still feels different to an email.
Last month, I received a lovely card and letter, from the parents of a wedding couple, I had recently married. It was from the groom’s parents, thanking me for the wedding, and saying some very kind things. It was so unexpected and so generous, that I was overwhelmed with emotion. This was not the usual letter from a charity, or the usual bill. I didn’t expect the note, as I was simply doing my job as a priest, but it was so special to read their words. It reminded me, that thanking people, has such an impact. A sincere thank you, with specifics, to someone who would not have expected it, can transform their day. I wonder who you could thank in this way today?
So, today, I pray for a thankful heart, and for the opportunity, to be able to thank someone deeply.
Amen.