Sunday, July 27

Love

I remember the day my three children were laid in my arms for the first time. Not all at the same time of course. I was filled with such overwhelming love. There is no way to describe it. Imagine God loving us in the same way. Well, guess what, you don’t have to imagine it because it’s real.

There is also unconditional love. I am reminded of this on a daily basis when I walk into my house. My dogs Olive and Buddy are there to greet me with whining and jumping and tails wagging. When I get home from cooking at Fortune Lake they even lick my legs. I must smell real good. They are so happy to see me whether I just walked down to get the mail or I’ve been gone a whole day at work. So, imagine God greeting us like this every day. Again, you don’t have to imagine it. No matter how long we are away from God, he welcomes us with open arms and eagerness every day.

Dear God, help us to realize your love for us. We know it is there, we just need to embrace it. Show us how to share your love with others in the same way.

Monday, July 28

Joy and Peace

I think joy and peace can be put together because with joy there is peace. When you experience pure joy you are at peace. My most peaceful place is at the cottage sitting on the dock at night. The stars are so bright and you can see thousands and thousands of them. When you lie down and just watch the sky, you can see satellites going by. The night noises are so peaceful as well. Sometimes an owl will call. Sometimes you can hear wolves. Most of the time the buzz of the mosquito’s drown out the rest of the noises. But who put all these things in place? God’s creation all around us is for our joy. God gives us joy every day so we should also be at peace

Holy God, thank you for your joy and peace in everything that that surrounds us. Help us to appreciate the wonders of your creation and to draw peace and joy from them.

Tuesday, July 29

Patience

Patience is not really one of my virtues. Imagine my patience when I was “randomly” picked to have an additional screening at the airport on my way to Triennial. I guess I must have looked suspicious or something. I was told to put all my belongings in “special” bins and remove my shoes. As I was patted down, my belongings were scanned and wiped down with a cloth of some sort. My name was being called as last call for boarding. What was I to do? This is where patience comes in. So it is with God. God is calling us constantly but we are too busy with other things to listen to him. So he waits patiently because he knows eventually we will be there. Thank goodness the plane crew waited patiently for me.

Heavenly Father, continue to give us patience deal with things in our lives. Guide us in your patient way to strive to be more like you.

Wednesday, July 30

Kindness and Goodness

Just like joy and peace, kindness and goodness can be put together. When I think of kindness and goodness, I think of my friend Donna. God put Donna in my life for a reason. Donna has brought many acts of goodness and kindness into my life over and over. She is always there exactly when I need her. Shortly after I moved to Crystal Falls, a terrible thing happened to me and, as always, I called Donna. She said she was on her way. And before long I was in Donna’s loving arms being comforted once again. But, Donna had no idea where I lived. Without God that day, guiding her in the right direction, where would I have been. It was a snowy day as well, but she made it. God gives us goodness and kindness not to keep for ourselves, but to give to others whenever we see the need

Gentle and kind God, thank you for the many gifts you give us every day. Make us aware of these gifts and help us to share them with others. Help us to be good and kind in all we do.

Thursday, July 31

Faithfulness

What is faith? Sometimes it is very hard to answer that question. Five years ago my husband was diagnosed with cancer. At first it didn’t seem so scary and we figured we could fight the fight and be done with it. But after hearing every time you go to the doctor, “that’s not working anymore” you start to lose faith. But to give up on faith would be giving up on God. We need to have faith in our doctors that they will finally find the right thing to make things better. We have to have faith in God that he will guide the doctors in the right direction. Our faith has carried us through so far and we aren’t about to give up yet.

Dear God, thank you for your gift of faith that sustains us through tough times. Without you in our lives we would be nothing. Help us to hold on to that every day.

Friday, August 1

Gentleness

Gentleness has been a hard one to write about. I have written a few things, erased them, started over, and erased them and so on. Finally tonight, I started writing and left the computer and told it to write itself. Now that wasn’t very gentle was it? I am at the Women of the ELCA Triennial convention right now and tonight we went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice. As we were walking from the bus to the entrance of the hall, there was a little stream flowing down the sidewalk. It was so peaceful and gentle; it reminded me of the gentleness of God. Imagine if we didn’t have a gentle God. Do you think he would be hitting us in the head when we just don’t get what he is trying to tell us?? I know I would be getting hit. He’s always leading me but I’m not a very good follower until the brick hits me in the head. The gentle trickling of the stream made me think of this devotion and the gentleness of our God.

Dear God, you remind us always of your gentleness. It is all around us in nature, in small children, even in teenagers. Your gentle touch is everywhere. Help us to grasp that gentleness and use it every day. Give us the ability to have a gentle touch in all we say and do and pass it on.

Saturday, August 2

Self Control

Self control is a hard one to write about. WE should all be practicing self control in all we do. But sometimes it is very hard to do. My biggest self control problem right now is letting people do the job they need to do and not jump in and do it myself because I know how. There are many times I just want to say “I’ll do it myself” but I have to restrain myself from actually doing it. It’s so much easier to just do something you know needs to be done rather than let it go. What if God did everything for us? What a life that would be. He gently nudges us in the way he wants us to go. He practices self control. Sometimes he loses that self control and really pushes us in the direction he wants us. So in all we do, there should be self control.

Dear God, continue to give us the power to use our self control at all times. It is not easy for us to obey you but with that little nudge we can do anything in you.