Ordinary Time

Pause

Take a deep breath, and let it out with a sigh.

Do it once more.

Close your eyes and slowly count to five.

Take another deep breath and be reminded of God’s presence in your life.

Listen

But you aren’t in darkness, brothers and sisters, so the day won’t catch you by surprise like a thief. All of you are children of light and children of the day. We don’t belong to night or darkness. So then, let’s not sleep like the others, but let’s stay awake and stay sober. People who sleep sleep at night, and people who get drunk get drunk at night. Since we belong to the day, let’s stay sober, wearing faithfulness and love as a piece of armor that protects our body and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-8

Think

What comes to mind when you think of “God’s time?” Does God work quickly or slowly? If the answer is both quickly and slowly, how are we to know whether God is working when we can’t see a change?

We relate to the concept of time in interesting ways. We want to have more of it, but it’s not something we can really save up. We wear watches or glance at our phones incessantly to figure out what time it is. We are anxious about time.

Paul tells us to relax a little bit about the future, because we will be with God always – even if the way God is working is still unknowable to us. We use the phrase “in God’s time” to highlight the reality that human timelines are different than God’s timeline. In this scripture, Paul encourages his friends to keep living in hope, faith, and love. God is working – even when we can’t tell exactly when or how.

Becky Ullom Naugle

Pray

God, give me patience and courage. Help me learn to trust your sense of timing, even when I wish it were different. Help me to keep living my life in hope, faith, and love. Amen.

Go

Go into your day with confidence, knowing that God has promised to be with you always, even if God’s sense of timing is different from yours.

Remember God’s love for you; remember your love of God.

You cannot go where God is not!