Tuesday - January 23, 2023

READING Mindful Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light. It was what I was born for - to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world - to instruct myself over and over in joy, and acclamation. Nor am I talking about the exceptional, the fearful, the dreadful, the very extravagant - but of the ordinary, the common, the very drab, the daily presentations. Oh, good scholar, I say to myself, how can you help but grow wise with such teachings as these - the untrimmable light of the world, the ocean's shine, the prayers that are made out of grass? - Mary Olive WORDS OF HOPE I just returned from a cruise, during which I saw gorgeous parts of the world that I’d not visited before, ate delicious food, experienced talented entertainers in some high-tech shows, and met some interesting people. When I returned home and people asked about my trip, my immediate response was that it was relaxing. That answer stems from the one day, a “sea day,” where I spent its entirety alone on the balcony in my cabin reading, writing, thinking, praying, listening, and drinking mediocre decaf coffee. The only thing to see was the vastness of the ocean, which could be viewed as nothing or as everything. During these hours, I was reminded that God doesn’t need spotlights and fanfares, glitz and glamour, the powerful and the extraordinary to be revealed; in fact, it is quite the opposite. God works through the ordinary, the small, the mundane, the weak, the powerless, the seemingly insignificant moments, and people. This is why each day we must “see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in a haystack of light.” Moses was a shepherd in the fields when through an ordinary bush, made extraordinary by God, Moses was instructed to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. God chose an ordinary man on an ordinary day through an ordinary bush to do extraordinary things. The same is true of the disciples of Jesus. They were ordinary men chosen by Jesus to spread the good news. Jesus “authorized” them to heal the sick, cast out demons, and baptize. This was quite a career change for this group of a tax collector, zealot, and fishermen. Jesus transformed ordinary water into fine wine at the wedding of Cana and he transforms a boy’s simple meal of five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food to feed five thousand. Again, ordinary things that become extraordinary through the power of God. These examples in Scripture, the words of the poet Mary Oliver, and, for me, my day surrounded by simple things, remind me that we need to take pride and comfort in the mundane that is the everyday. God greets us in the soapy dishwater, in the carpool lane, during the boring meeting. God meets us in the toys we are picking up for the hundredth time, the can of soup we are opening, in the trash bag we are carrying to the curb. God is the everything amidst the seemingly nothingness. “Oh, good scholar, I say to myself, how can you help but grow wise with such teachings as these—“ PRAYER  God of All, grant us the wisdom to cherish the ordinary as a sacred space where Your love dwells. Teach us to find joy not only in the extraordinary but also in the seemingly simple and mundane, knowing that it is there that Your grace often shines the brightest. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Kris Baker Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

READING "You can be sure if you have to walk on a stony life path, God will provide you with strong shoes." -Corrie Ten Boom WORDS OF HOPE Do you sometimes feel you have been walking on life’s stony path far too long? You are not alone. In times as chaotic and uncertain as ours, the Christian writer, Corrie Ten Boom is one of my most often read spiritual mentors. In the 1940’s, during Nazi control of her city of Amsterdam, her parents’ home provided shelter and care for many Jewish families until her family was betrayed and sent to a concentration camp. She was able to survive though her family tragically died there. Years later, in adult life, she became a Christian author and world-wide lecturer. We are painfully aware through her story that becoming a Christian does not guarantee us an easy life. We suffer the slings and arrows of adversity like everyone else. Like others, our bodies are frail and subject to accidents and disease. However, we do have a loving God who journeys through life with us, providing guidance and care. Earlier humanity which worshiped stone or wooden gods could only imagine that those divine images or idol of their gods understood life's pain and difficulty. In contrast to that uncertainty, Christians are reassured by the living example of Jesus who actually walked among us: who loved, cared, rejoiced, and wept with his followers. We know that our journey through life's hardships is not a solo trek; rather, we can trust in the steady presence and helping hand of Christ. In her book, Tramp for the Lord, Ten Boom observes: "Happiness is not dependent on certain events happening; rather, on relationships in those happenings." Truly entrusting ourselves to Christ insures that we will be equipped and strengthened to handle the obstacles we may encounter. We will be given strong and durable walking shoes. However, it's our choice either to put them on or reject them and continue life in flip-flops! PRAYER Lord Christ, I give you my love and thanks that on my life's journey you desire to be with me to guide and comfort. Thank you for the assurance that you walk hand-in-hand with me and will in my final steps draw me to your eternal self. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Donald (Luke) Day Order of St. Francis and St.Clare

SCRIPTURE Proverbs 23:5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. WORDS OF HOPE God My Provider A person will work their whole life getting richer, and by the end of their life, never know what it was to be rich. Why spend years for what you will only enjoy for days? So long as we have time, we have wealth, for a person’s happiness is in how they remember their time. Seeing as no one knows how much time they have can anyone afford to waste it? We lack time more than we lack money. The one who has little is not poor and the one who has much is not rich, but the one who finds happiness is satisfied. There are people living in mansions who cannot buy it and there are people living in clay houses who would never sell it. If you can count it, if you can measure it, then its value is limited. Happiness can neither be counted nor measured; by this, we know that it is priceless. Therefore, do not waste your wealth, that is your time, on trying to be wealthy. For once the money is spent, you will need more. Many people never enjoy peace because they think that they do not have enough money. They forget that its very purpose is to be spent, and if not spent by them, then by someone else after they are gone. No one keeps their money. Life does not begin when you have it, but when you wake up and begin your day. At the start of the day, we are gifted with time. How will we spend it? God has already considered everything that we need so that we may have peace in the world. Be at rest, for God will provide. PRAYER Jehovah Jireh, Bless You for the gift of life. We could never pay You back for the time You have given us. Yet sometimes, we fear not having enough. Help us to appreciate what we already have in You so that we may enjoy our time. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Jonathon McClellan Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE John 5.3-9  In Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate at the pool, a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. WORDS OF HOPE It’s August, the month in Texas when many of us look to a refreshing dip in the pool as our savior from the heat! The Savior’s pool mentioned in today’s scripture lesson was thought to have genuinely miraculous healing powers by the people of Jerusalem. It was visited often by the infirm. The man who was not able to walk would have been a typical visitor. His exchange with Jesus is interesting on several levels and inspires some questions. Had the man actually been coming to the pool for thirty-eight years? If so, who had been bringing him there since he could not walk? Couldn’t they also have carried him into the pool and not just deposited him there beside it? When Jesus asks if he wants to get well, instead of enthusiastically saying “yes”, he immediately starts making excuses about why he has not been able to get into the water, saying that no one will help him in and besides, everyone else breaks in line ahead of him. All in all, it’s simply not his fault. Everyone else is to blame. I’m sure you are not one of them, but I have known a lot of people throughout the years who are masters at making excuses. I could list a few politicians. George Washington Carver once said, “Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” You probably know a few expert excuse-makers, too. They are usually people who, consciously or subconsciously, want to fail. Failure requires a great deal less work than success. Jesus’ reply to the invalid is succinct. “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!” He didn’t waste time commiserating with the man about the cruel fate that surrounds him or condemning the selfish attitudes of the other pool patrons. He didn’t give the man a chance to elaborate on his excuses. It would seem that the man was shocked into action because not only was he immediately cured, but he also didn’t need any magic water to do it. Are you prepared to let Jesus shock you into action today? Are you ready to share the priceless gift of encouragement with someone who is discouraged, despondent, and down to their last excuse? Jesus didn’t judge or care about excuses. He just did what needed to be done. Considering the amounts of circumstances in all of our lives that are catalysts for excuses, you’ll probably have the opportunity soon to give someone a helpful nudge, too. PRAYER May we always follow the example of Jesus, being healers and never contributors to the adverse circumstances of life. As your followers, we have no excuses. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE Isaiah 27: 1 On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea. WORDS OF HOPE The image of slaying dragons is a strong one and perhaps something that might work better in a fantasy book than scripture, but Isaiah was a prophet. Prophets often spoke in fantastic imagery and it does what he intended in my opinion, he got our attention. He is speaking of a future time when Israel is reestablished, and the Temple is rebuilt. It is a passage that is intended to bring hope to those who are oppressed and exiled. Perhaps we can look on it in more personal terms. We all have dragons in our lives that need slaying. Leviathans of worry, debt, depression, illness; creatures that can take over our lives and block out everything else. I listen to Isaiah and hear a message of hope, that with God’s guidance, I can get through whatever troubles I face. I might not triumph over them, but I can take away their overwhelming power and relegate them to a more realistic perspective. I can live my life following God’s path and let those dragons take care of themselves. PRAYER May I find the strength God gives me and may it be present in my every waking hour. DEVOTION AUTHOR Hardy Haberman