Prayer can at times be challenging and often the hardest thing to do is to get started. So if you take the five fingers on your hand, your thumb is the finger that is always the nearest to you. This is the finger to remind you to pray for those who are nearest and dearest to you and this normally includes the members of our own family and our closest friends.

The next finger is called the pointing finger. This is the finger to remind you to pray for those who point us in the right direction. This especially includes those who are in the caring profession, doctors, nurses, carers, teachers, priests, sisters, counsellors and healers. We ask God’s blessings on them and on all those in the caring profession.

The next finger is called middle finger and this is our tallest finger. This is the finger to remind you to pray for our leaders. This includes those who run our government at national and local level. It includes our President and it includes all those who are currently trying to negotiate the very delicate Brexit situation.

The next finger is our fourth finger, often called the ring finger. This also happens to be our weakest finger. Just ask any piano teacher and they will tell you so. This is the finger to remind you to pray for those who are weak and vulnerable. It includes our sick and anyone who is in hospital. It includes anyone who is sad or lonely, anyone who is feeling down or depressed, our bereaved, our homeless and anyone going through a very difficult or stressful time in their lives.

Finally this leaves us with our small finger and this finger is all about you. This is the finger to remind you to pray for yourself. We all have our own story that is unique to us. We all have different things going on for us. We bring them all to God in our own quiet prayer. We ask God to gently guide us, direct us, keep us safe, energise us and to help us get through each day as best we can.