Weekly Devotion 9/29/2020

Devotion for 9/29/2020

Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV):

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

            I’ve known that my cell phone was not going to last much longer. I’ve told that to many people. I was just hoping it would hold on until October, when I officially have a New Jersey address and can get a phone and phone plan locally. It would have made it, too, if I had not dropped the phone into a sink full of soapy water last Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, cell phones and warm soapy water do not go together very well. Now I need to make due at least until next week without a phone.

            I am not someone who is constantly using my phone. I don’t keep many apps on it; my kids insisted on adding a few games on there for times when they want to borrow it, but there is not too much beyond that on there. Yet I can very much feel the emptiness of not having the device with me. I use it as my alarm clock and so always make sure it is beside my bed before I go to sleep. I miss that routine. I also slept in the first morning because I did not have an alarm go off! I also use it to listen to podcasts while I make dinner, so for now my cooking routine feels off. It is amazing the ways we get used to our routines.

            So often we wonder where God is and what God is doing. We listen to the big events of the world and can feel overwhelmed and frightened by so much of what we see and hear going on. Why isn’t God at work doing big things, too? Why do we see so many problems and so few miracles? We get so focused on the big events that we miss the small, ordinary, everyday ways that God is with us, holding our world and our lives together. Too often we miss the ways that God produces the rhythms and routines of our life, the stability and space to allow us to care about the big things of the world. If not having a small device by my side can make me feel like my day is thrown off, how much more can our days get thrown off when we don’t have routines that help us to see the ways that God is at work around us?

            Too often we think of prayer as a long period of deep meditation. While it can be that, deep prayers that shape our outlook on the world are often most profoundly found in the little rhythms of the day. For me, every morning as I walk across the bridge from the apartment to the church parking lot the same frog jumps away. It is a reminder that I am part of a larger reality, a reality that includes birds and frogs to be sure, but also resonates with the presence of God. What rhythms do you have that help you be aware of God’s reality around you? Holding those routines is a form of praying without ceasing. I urge you to pay attention this week to the little moments when God calls out to you each day.

In Peace,

Pastor Eric