Ordinary Time

Pause

It is the nature of God to Care.

The Creator of the universe invests in our lives through direct intervention and through the care of others.

Sometimes we just need to have eyes to capture the vision, ears to catch the rhythm, and a heart to respond to God’s call.

Listen

The Lord: who makes the blind see.

The Lord: who straightens up those who are bent low.

The Lord: who loves the righteous.

The Lord: who protects immigrants, who helps orphans and widows, but who makes the way of the wicked twist and turn!

The Lord will rule forever! Zion, your God will rule from one generation to the next! Praise the Lord!

Psalm 146:8-10

Think

Those who are the hardest for us to love are often the ones who need our love the most.

A young boy who was wreaking havoc in a campground where we were doing a mission day camp reminded me of that truth. I heard from the locals that his mom had died a few months before, and his father had left him at the campground to live with his sister for the summer. By Friday the boy was wielding a stick at anyone within three feet of him, and I knew something had to be done. So I stepped up behind him and pulled him into an embrace. He kept swinging and I kept holding on. We stood like that until eventually he just broke down and began to sob.

I never saw that boy again after that week, but I will never forget the feeling as his small body changed from anger to grief and then to sorrow. I remember that transformation often as I deal with people who seem so difficult.

Wanda Kidd

Pray

Oh God, who loves me when I am unlovable, give me the patience, grace, and insight to offer that gift to someone else. Amen.

Go

Care is an engaging word. If we care, then we are compelled to respond to the needs we see around us. Sometimes it requires action, sometimes it simply calls for our presence, but it always propels us to see the world with Christ-like compassion and grace.

Remember today: we do not always know what someone is going through.