For Such A Time as This – March 10, 2021 – Rachel Witkovsky
To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,
Joys and Concerns
If you have a joy or concern you would like us to share and pray about, please call, text, or email it to me. If you would like it included in our Sunday Worship sharing and prayer time, please share it with Pastor Bill that week by Thursday evening.
Prayer Concern
- Heidi Neiswender asks for prayer for her former sister-in-law's sister, Sandy.Sandy had open heart surgery yesterday to repair a valve. Her heart has not yet started to beat on its own so Sandy is still on a bypass machine.
- Todd Albaugh asks for continued prayer for his brother-in-law Gary, who remains in the hospital fighting a COVID infection, is making small improvements, but has a long recovery ahead.
Thank You:
To all who call others to check in on them and to share our emails and devotions.
Today’s Devotion:
Continuing our Lenten theme on the prayers of Jesus, Rachel Witkovsky offers these reflections and ideas for deepening our relationship with God.
Shalom,
Dennis
Scripture - Luke 10:21-24 (NRSV)
At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”
Thoughts
Just as the sermon title this week asked, “What was Jesus really thankful for?” we too can ask ourselves, “What are we thankful for?” Jesus’ prayer was an expression of gratitude for, as Dennis talked about in his sermon, relationships. Dennis challenged us to “pray as Jesus prayed.” He encouraged us to pray for the growing and healing of many relationships in our lives. How do we start this process? How do we begin the growing and the healing? I would suggest with a practice of gratitude in prayer. We find the small things to be grateful for to start and build up from there until we find the strength to be grateful for more and more. I have found the practice of gratitude journaling very helpful in my efforts to be more thankful.
To begin the practice of gratitude journaling, all you need is a small notebook or pad of paper and, each day, to find something you’re grateful for. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. I’ve written about my gratitude for a stranger’s smile on a day when I don’t feel like smiling myself. I’ve been grateful for a card sent to me in the mail or the arrival of the first flowers of spring.
Each day write one thing you are grateful for. Offer that gratitude to God in a short, sweet prayer. You will be surprised by your shift of perspective. Throughout the day, knowing you’ll need at least one thing to be thankful for to write in your journal, you will start to see so many small acts of kindness and signs of goodness. These tiny pieces of gratitude, especially gratitude for someone else, will create beautiful threads of healing and growth throughout your relationships. When you concentrate on what you are thankful for, no matter how small, you start to see things to be grateful for all around you.
Today, I am grateful for you, whoever you are, reading this devotion. Know that you are loved and that I am thankful for you, just the way you are.
Blessings to you on this day.
Prayer
Beautiful creator, we pause today to thank you for the small, good things we see each day. Thank you for the whispering wind and the singing bird. Thank you for the sun as well as the rain, for we know the Earth needs both to thrive. And thank you for this moment, here and now, to spend with you. Amen.
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