Ordinary Time

Pause

Start by placing your feet firmly on the ground
and placing your palms facing up on your lap
like you’re ready to catch something.

When you breathe in, receive God’s love into every inch of your body, mind, and heart.

When you breathe out, share God’s love into a world which desperately needs that love.

Take a deep breath—in and out.
And another one—in and out.
And one more—in and out.

Be at peace.

Listen

I’m reminded of your authentic faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I’m sure that this faith is also inside you. Because of this, I’m reminding you to revive God’s gift that is in you through the laying on of my hands. God didn’t give us a spirit that is timid but one that is powerful, loving, and self-controlled.

2 Timothy 1:5-7

Think

My grandmother is not a very timid person. She’s fun and passionate, full of life, and always ready with a hug or a word of hard-earned wisdom. Not to mention that she has experienced more in her life than I could ever imagine experiencing in mine. From growing up during World War II to working two or three jobs at a time to provide food and shelter for her children to surviving an abusive marriage to moving cross country to be with me when I was born, her life has been filled with many challenges and many graces.

We see that God’s gift, while certainly coming through the ministry of the Apostle, came first through the witness of a grandmother and a mother. Paul set aside Timothy to be a disciple, but only because Eunice and Lois first offered Timothy an example, like my grandmother’s, that was “powerful, loving, and self-controlled.” Families and mentors are important in our development as mature disciples. Although we might study the Bible and theology, the foundation of our faith is often established by people like parents, grandparents, coaches, teachers, and friends.

Cody Maynus

Pray

Dear God, I give you thanks for those who have come before me and helped me grow as a disciple and friend of Jesus. In your own time, help me to offer a powerful witness to others in my life. Amen.

Go

“Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.”

Lucy Maud Montgomery in Anne of Green Gables (1908)

As you move into the realities of your daily life, go into the deep woods of your imagination, look up, up, up into the sky of your heart, and feel a prayer.