Day By Day #38

Day by Day #38

MORNING/MIDDAY PRAYER

Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading: Colossians 3:22–25

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

Devotional

Throughout history, one’s calling has often been narrowly defined as an occupation (career), a status in life (single or married), or as secular or consecrated (lay persons or professional Christian ministers). As a result, we often think: “Whatever my calling was, I think I may have missed it.” Or, “I’m not trained. I’m just a regular person.” Or, “I’m just working, waiting for my true calling to reveal itself.”

Scripture teaches, however, that every Christian is called by God at conversion. And that calling encompasses the whole of our lives. Recovering this truth revolutionizes how we understand our role—in the workplace and in the world—as men and women sent by Jesus to embody his love.

In the Roman Empire, slaves were property and occupied the lowest rung on the social hierarchy—which meant the worst and most demeaning tasks fell to them. Yet the apostle Paul offers a revolutionary new perspective on their status and role. He reminds them that it is Christ whom they serve, no matter how lowly the task. And so they are commissioned by God to model the love of Jesus in their daily work.

The same principle applies to us. It is Christ whom we serve. And all of us have the ability to creatively and proactively build emotionally healthy relationships and community in his name—as teachers, janitors, health care workers, lawyers, salespeople, managers, volunteers, cooks, small business owners, actors, students, and administrators.

Wherever we work, regardless of who signs our paycheck (or if we even get a paycheck), we are Christ followers first, called to join with him in restoring the world to what God originally intended it to be.

Question to Consider

What is one small way you can take initiative today to serve Christ by loving those around you?

Prayer

Lord, help me believe that you have chosen me and sent me to the world. I need courage to proactively and consistently model the love of Jesus in my relationships. Grant me opportunities to embody and reflect your love to everyone I meet this day. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

MIDDAY/EVENING PRAYER

Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading: Lamentations 3:21–27a

            Yet this I call to mind

                  and therefore I have hope:

            Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,

                  for his compassions never fail.

            They are new every morning;

                  great is your faithfulness.

            I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;

                  therefore I will wait for him.”

            The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,

                  to the one who seeks him;

            it is good to wait quietly

                  for the salvation of the LORD.

Devotional

The key to loving people, especially in difficult times, requires a deep revelation and experience of the love of God in our own lives. Jeremiah, the author of Lamentations, knew this; so must we. One of the most powerful writers in church history to expound on this love of God was a once obscure woman named Julian.

Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) lived in England during a time of enormous political, social, and economic upheaval. She saw the beginning of the Hundred Years War between England and France. She lived through the bubonic plague, which killed more than a third of Europe’s population. And she saw a church divided and in moral compromise with government rulers.

Julian chose to live as an anchoress, withdrawing from society to live in a small room attached to a church in the heart of Norwich. Once she entered her cell, she never returned to the outside world. While the physical realities of her living quarters were painfully cramped, the inner realities of her soul were expansive and filled with transcendent experiences with God.

At about the age of thirty, Julian received sixteen “showings” or visions of God’s love, which she meditated on for twenty years before writing of them in her book, The Revelations of Divine Love. God showed her that his love and his divine will are at work in all things. She wrote:

All will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well. . . .

I saw hidden in God an exalted and wonderful mystery, which he will make plain and we shall know in heaven. In this knowledge we shall truly see the cause why he allowed sin to come, and in this sight we shall rejoice forever. . . .

Another understanding is this: that there are many deeds so evilly done and lead to such great harms that it seems to us impossible that any good result could ever come of them . . . such as the angels who fell out of heaven because of pride . . . and many . . . who live unchristian lives and so die out of God’s love.

And all this being so, it seemed to me that it was impossible that every kind of thing should be well, as our Lord revealed at this time. And to this I had no other answer as a revelation from our Lord except this: What is impossible to you is not impossible to me. I shall preserve my word in everything, and I shall make everything well.^a

Loving people in the name of Jesus is slow, hard work. At times, fruit emerges slowly—very slowly. But the love of God, who promises us “all will be well,” offers us power, sustenance, and the long-term perspective we need to remain faithful.

Question to Consider

God said to Julian, “All will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well.” In what relationship or circumstance in your own life do you most need to receive this promise from God?

Prayer

Father, from the beginning of time, you have not stopped pouring out your love to the world. And you continue to saturate each of us in your love each day. Help me to deeply receive your love today, and to trust that you will make all things well, in this world and in the world to come. Help me to be an extension of your love to those around me today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

^a Julian of Norwich Showings: The Classics of Western Spirituality, trans. and introduction, Edmund Colledge and James Walsh, S.J. (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1978), 225–26, 232–33.