Today’s scripture: Matthew 6:25-34 (NRSV) (The Message) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Pam Beutler):
We live in fast times. Food service is never fast enough. Lines never move fast enough for our schedules — whether at the bank, grocery store, movie theatre, or a rush hour drive. Has your partner ever said to you, “We never spend enough time together”? We are exhausted from just “living”. Some of us talk about simpler times and fewer responsibilities.
God wants us to enjoy life, to stop and smell the roses, to notice the wind and sun and new life on an Indiana spring day. In our mind we can come up with more reasons not to relax, more tasks that must be done.
Just for today — take deliberate breaths. Feel yourself taking in a breath and exhaling, feel your heart beat.
Just for today — turn off the radio or television, pick up a pen and write a letter to God. Tell God what you’re feeling.
Just for today – count your blessings.
Worry less about what you don’t have, and appreciate what you do.
We make life harder than God intended it to be. God gave us nature to enjoy, not destroy. God gave us our senses to take in the beauty of all creation.
We fret way too much about our bodies. We overfeed them, or underfeed them. We put chemicals into them and food that isn’t nourishing — all for the pleasure of it. We rarely use this wonderful mind God gave us to contemplate how easy life could truly be. We can explore our dreams and make them into reality. We can develop our full potential, which would in turn, nourish our souls and please God.
God, our creator, made us perfect. Our souls are in God’s Image. We are on this earth to enjoy and experience life — not constantly fight it. Our priorities should be the growth of our soul to achieve the levels that Jesus showed us are possible on earth, developing and expanding our mind to that higher plane, and lastly, our body, our tool to assist the first two.
Starting today, show gratitude for your life and things that you have been given. Slow down — let God drive your life, give your body a rest. You might be surprised where it takes you.
Thought for the day: I’ll move to God’s rhythm.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to start, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.