So many conversations are competitions. What if, just for today, yours were the opposite?
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Stephen Covey
“Love is not self-seeking.” 1 Corinthians 13:5
important
A handful of people have loved me through thick and thin, no matter what. They changed me, one undeserved kindness at a time. Funny how sometimes I still think important means fancy jobs and being famous.
Father, remind me often today that important means loving my neighbor. From Mark 12:31
“We are not called by God to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things with extraordinary love.” Jean Vanier
into good hands
When you’re feeling discouraged because you don’t have much to offer, the bravest and hardest thing you can do is keep offering it anyway (day in and day out). You never can tell what will happen when your little bit falls into good hands.
“‘Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what good are these for so many people?’. . . . Jesus took the loaves and . . . the fish. . . .” John 6:9, 11
“One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
words
Years ago, in the middle of the night, a doctor went into the hospital to see a patient. He met wounding words where thank-you should have been, and that changed everything. Those wounding words turned out to be his tipping point.
“Words spoken recklessly are like the thrusts of a sword, but the words of the wise bring healing.” Proverbs 12:18
Father, may my words bring healing today.
a critical eye
The more you see what’s wrong with you, the harder it is to keep a critical eye on what’s wrong with other people. There’s a lot of me-too in grace.
“It is in our most unguarded moments that we really show and see what we are.” Andrew Murray
“They said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. . . .’ He said, ‘Whoever of you is guiltless may be the first to throw a stone at her.’” John 8:4, 8
thirsty enough
Even when our interior worlds are dry and noisy places, we tend to stay there until we get thirsty enough.
Father, You offer to lead me to quiet, restful, refreshing waters today. Please make me thirsty enough to say yes. From Psalm 23:2
“Best of any song/is a bird song/in the quiet, but first/you must have the quiet.” Wendell Berry