Listen

The same Spirit agrees with our spirit, that we are God’s children. But if we are children, we are also heirs. We are God’s heirs and fellow heirs with Christ, if we really suffer with him so that we can also be glorified with him.

Romans 8:16-17

Think

When was the last time you felt like you truly belonged? How did you know? Did you sense it with your mind or simply know it in your heart?

For some, these moments are as rare as they are beautiful; their lives are more about feeling alone or odd, different or insufficient. We all must cherish the good so that it sustains us through the bad.

We must also cherish the fact that we belong to a loving God, especially when we are helping others through a time of suffering. For if we are God’s children and heirs through Christ, then we are also one another’s brothers and sisters in Christ (v. 17). Whenever we bear pain and suffering with a loved one, bringing them peace and comfort in their trouble, we are working as Christ’s hands and heart in the world. Whenever we shoulder someone’s suffering, we support their spiritual connection with God through the Holy Spirit.

This gift, given and received, is all to the glory of God.

Sarah Boatwright

Pray

Spirit of compassion, thank you for making me feel like I belong. May I help others understand this sense of belonging by being a living example of your love today. Amen.

Go

“O Holy Spirit, enter in, and in our hearts your work begin, and make our hearts your dwelling.

Sun of the soul, O Light divine, around and in us brightly shine, your strength in us upwelling.

In your radiance life from heaven now is given overflowing, gift of gifts beyond all knowing.”

from “O Holy Spirit, Enter In” by Michael Schirmer