Back to School 
Pause
Playing cards with family, a doodle on a notebook, or a pick-up game of basketball. Should we really be spending time on frivolous activities? But then our eyes are opened: God is in all of this! We can play as well as work, study, or practice to the glory of God.
Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly. It was not a promise that we would be happy or have all that we had dreamed. It was the promise of abundant life, full of experiences and relationships, rich with love and joy.
Take time now to reconnect to that abundance.
Listen
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4
Think
Some of your worst days are ahead of you. I am just being honest. Yes, I could tell you that everything will be OK and that the writer of Ecclesiastes just wants us to have days of laughter and dancing.
But there will be tears and you will mourn over deep loss. There was a time in my life when I was proud, and even bragged that I could not cry. When did building up walls become a sign of strength or crying become wrong? Tears cleanse. Did you know that people who cry often get sick less?
Laughter is similar because those who laugh heal faster. Laughter lifts us up. Crying cleanses. They are partners in this dance of life. Maybe today’s text is telling us that worse days may be ahead of us, but so will amazing and wonderful days. In both, we are going to be OK.
Michelle Thomas-Bush
Pray
God, remind me of the hope of your promise, the hope of the gospel, and the hope of salvation. Remind me that hope will not disappoint because you continue to pour out your love for me. In your son’s holy name I pray, Amen.
Go
Let us respond to the amazing love of God
With wild abandon and joyous laughter.
May our laughter reflect God’s delight,
And may our play be praise to God.
