Listen

The Lord’s Instruction is perfect, reviving one’s very being. The Lord’s laws are faithful, making naive people wise. The Lord’s regulations are right, gladdening the heart. The Lord’s commands are pure, giving light to the eyes.

Psalm 19:7-8

Think

“Perfect teaching! My very being feels revived! When I was on my phone instead of taking notes, that reminder I received to follow our classroom community expectations… wow, it gladdened my heart!”

Not surprisingly, these are not the comments I generally overhear when my middle-school students exit class, despite thoughtful lesson goals!

Reaching the goal of learning to live out our faith follows a unique learning curve. Here in Psalm 19 and throughout our biblical narrative, God gloriously schools us in what’s really important — justice, mercy, and love.

In whatever well-intentioned goals we might have for today, may we seek out the arc of God’s grace through our daily living:

Thinking before acting
Listening before assuming
Confessing before critiquing
Serving as well as receiving

Those sound like more important lesson goals that what I had planned for my day.

Molly Logan

Question to Ponder:

How can I live out God’s love to my neighbors in my actions today? How might that both humble and revive me?

Pray

Gracious and Loving God, you are perfect. I am not.

Thank you for not requiring me to be perfect and patiently teaching me while loving me as I am today.

Help me to follow your command to love my neighbor today with light and gladness in my heart.

Amen.

Go

This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight.

Philippians 1:9

There’s so much to learn and enjoy of the depth of God’s love.

Embrace a goal of seeking and serving afresh today.