It would be good if …

The language of our dreams and even of our resolutions is always ‘if’. Even as we dream our dreams and make our wishes and our resolutions and contemplate the good things that might happen this year, we can’t help having our doubts. After all, we did the same last year; we dreamt our dreams and made our resolutions. And December came and they seem to have receded into the distant past.

But change in human life takes more than dreaming and even than resolving. We learn as priests early on – and we know it in any case from the experience of our own lives – that it is no use telling someone who comes with something on their conscience how to change their whole life. You have to give them – or find for yourself – the short steps out of which the long journey towards their dreams can take shape.

So this year we must pray that the small steps can be taken that bring about the big changes in our lives. Peace – step by step. Compassion for the world’s poor – pound by pound. A crime-free society – by the hard task of helping individuals to make realistic changes.

‘It would be good if …’  has to be made out of ‘It will be better, and …’ Let us set out together to make the difference, step by step. And the God of our large dreams will enable our small steps also.

Bishop Peter

ENDS.

The Diocese of Worcester is one of 44 dioceses in the Church of England. It covers an area of 671 square miles and includes parishes in the County of Worcestershire, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, and a few parishes in northern Gloucestershire, south east Wolverhampton and Sandwell.