Back to School

Pause

Playing cards with family, a doodle on a notebook, or a pick-up game of basketball. Should we really be spending time on frivolous activities? But then our eyes are opened: God is in all of this! We can play as well as work, study, or practice to the glory of God.

Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly. It was not a promise that we would be happy or have all that we had dreamed. It was the promise of abundant life, full of experiences and relationships, rich with love and joy.

Take time now to reconnect to that abundance.

Listen

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7

Think

Be quiet! Scripture tells us there is a time to be quiet. When do we take time to be silent? Unplug? Breathe?

Once in a Bible study, we were challenged to sit for 10 minutes in silence. I centered myself, pushing all thoughts from my mind; I was surprised how much I enjoyed the quiet. Thinking I had completed the task, I looked at the clock and realized it had only been three minutes! I know that rest restores, but maybe I am afraid to stop; I am afraid of what I might miss or not achieve.

Jesus asked the disciples to “Come with me to a quiet place.” They went to a solitary place, and we are invited to do the same. There is a time to speak, but there is also a time to be silent. Quiet is something we all need—at least a little bit!

Michelle Thomas-Bush

Pray

(Take this time of prayer to be silent. Take a deep breath and breathe in all that God offers you in this moment.)

Go

Let us respond to the amazing love of God
With wild abandon and joyous laughter.
May our laughter reflect God’s delight,
And may our play be praise to God.