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First Steps – November 19, 2018

This week—Thanksgiving Week—kicks off the holiday season for many of us.  Life is now full-speed ahead!  As I look at my calendar I see nothing but one event after another.  Although many events are packed with fun and merriment, they are taxing.  So, if you’re life is like mine, then I offer some words of wisdom from Beth Richardson, a Christian devotional writer.

She wrote:

Humans process 500,000 bits of information per day. That works out to 110 bits of information per second. While this may sound quite impressive, it quantifies the fact that our nervous systems can barely process two conversations taking place at the same time. … It’s not about our ability to multitask … it’s just how we’re made.

That must be why many of us are feeling quite overwhelmed and short on time. …

During the last ten to fifteen years, many of us have added cell phones, e-mail, the web, and a 24/7 urgency to our environment. …

There isn’t, of course, any way to create more minutes in a day or more days in a week. It’s not healthy to get by on less sleep or learn better how to multitask. I think the key to finding time lies in a couple of things:

 Being intentional about spiritual practice. I must sink my roots deep into God’s Spirit every day. When I take time for God, it makes a difference in how I function in the day . . .

 Carving out space inside for God — no matter what situation I’m in. Finding time is not just about “clock time,” it’s also a combination of discipline and internal spaciousness that helps me connect with God even when I’m sitting in traffic, overcome with anxiety, or surrounded by a crowd.

As we begin this wonderful but crazy time of the year, remind yourself that you control your own schedule so be intentional and carve out the needed space for God.

 

 

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – Hebrews 7
  • Tuesday – Hebrews 8
  • Wednesday – Hebrews 9
  • Thursday – Hebrews 10
  • ​Friday – Hebrews 11

Please Pray for:

  • Our nation and our leaders
  • Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community
  • Those that are suffering and grieving
  • Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
  • The United Methodist Church.

 

 

 

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First Steps – September 24, 2018

As you beginning of each day this week, I offer you this prayer:

Almighty and everlasting God, you have safely brought us to the beginning of this day. Defend us with your mighty power, and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger, but that all our doings, ordered by your hand, may reflect your righteousness. Remind us that we live with you, now and forever, Amen. (Adapted from The Book of Common Prayer).

At the end of each day this week, I offer you this prayer:

O Lord, my God, I thank thee that you have brought this day to a close. I thank you that you give rest to the body and the soul. Your hand has been over me, guarding me, and preserving me, all this day. Forgive my feeble faith and all the wrong I have done this day and help me to forgive all who have wronged me.

Grant that I may sleep in peace under the care of your hand. Help me to rest though darkness is around me. Into your hands, I commend my body and soul, my loved ones, and my household. Thank you for what you have given me.  (Adapted from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison).

 

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – Romans 12
  • Tuesday – Romans 13
  • Wednesday – Romans 14
  • Thursday – Romans 15
  • ​Friday – Romans 16

 

Please Pray for:

  • Our nation and our leaders.
  • Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
  • Our new year in Christian studies and activities.
  • Those that are suffering and grieving.
  • Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
  • The United Methodist Church.
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First Steps – September 10, 2018

Gratitude enlarges one’s capacity for delight.  When one expresses gratitude, one experiences more joy, more happiness, more peace, and is better attuned to what God wants to bestow independent of circumstances.  When one expresses gratitude, one finds delight in the goodness of God.

Therefore, our task this week is to find ways to express our gratitude.  For some, it might be written reflections in a journal.  For another, gratitude might be expressed vocally to a friend or family member. Yet for another, it might be the daily naming of one single thing that brings joy.  Perhaps for another, it is a list of things most thankful for that hangs on a refrigerator.  The key is to find a way to express your gratitude to God and others.  Don’t wait or put it off.  Begin today.

James 1:7 says, “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

 

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – Romans 2
  • Tuesday – Romans 3
  • Wednesday – Romans 4
  • Thursday – Romans 5
  • ​Friday – Romans 6

 

Please Pray for:

  • The United Methodist Church
  • Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
  • ​Our nation and our leaders.
  • Those suffering due to catastrophic natural disasters.
  • ​Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
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