When we enter a new year, we cannot ignore the passing of time. We may feel that time passes more quickly than it used to, but we know that there are the same number of hours in a day and days in a week as in the past year. Though we may regret the passing of time, we cannot turn the clock back.

  

We don’t have the choice of that celebrated TV Time Lord, Dr Who. We cannot reinvent ourselves innumerable times, as Dr Who succeeds in doing. I wonder if the programme’s fascination lies in the doctor’s ability to defeat time.

  

We may like to go back to our younger selves, but we cannot go back and change the past, even for a fraction of a second. Nor can we retract one angry word or selfish act. But we do have a choice about the future. We have a God who is Lord of all time, past, present and future, and he can be Lord of our time too. We can place our present and future in his hands, to live the life he wants us to live.

  

Though we don’t have the fantastical powers of TV science fiction characters, we have a greater power in God, who promises to be with us this year and in all our years to  come.

Prayer: Dear God, we thank you that every second, minute and day of our lives is in your hands. Amen