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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Bishop Sarah Mullally

Good Morning,

The Campaign to End Loneliness suggests that almost a million older people say they feel lonelier at Christmas. Loneliness and isolation can lead to poor mental and physical wellbeing and has been associated with the same negative health effect as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

As both a nurse and priest, I’ve learnt that it’s often the small things which make an extra ordinary difference to the lives of others – acts of kindness.

In 2017 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Carnegie UK Trust published a report called ‘The Place of Kindness’. The report suggested that random acts of kindness have a significant impact on quality of life. Kindness reduces social isolation and improves wellbeing. It also provides a necessary ingredient of successful communities.

Kindness is one of the most underrated values in today's world. It isn't bland or soft or feeble or weak. Kindness comes when we dare to offer an opening to humanity and mercy, regardless of cost or reward. It is more than being nice and it can be very demanding. Kindness can start conversations; kindness is calling by someone you haven’t seen for some time or providing an invitation for a meal.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said: ‘Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world’

I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ would help us to live as lights to shine as lights in the world.

Amen.

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