Focus

Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God.

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Read

James 4:11-16 (NRSV)

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

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Reflect

I have a friend and colleague who inspires me; this scripture reminds me of him. He is an ordained minister in the Baptist church and is assigned to the burn unit with me. We share in our grief, our crisis intervention, and our spiritual care for families who enter the hospital where we work—but we are complete opposites! We often laugh at how incredibly different we are in terms of religious practices, politics, and even the style of music that we like. (He just cannot get into show tunes!) Yet, we become tearful when we share sacred space and thank God for creating us in God’s image.

My dearest brother in Christ reminds me that our differences are what make us the children of God. He has also taught me that by giving others a chance, we may learn more about ourselves and our Creator. If we had not given each other a chance, we would have never seen the holy together.

My friend also teaches me to follow the Lord, even when the future is unseen. He left his comfortable tenure as a college chaplain and moved thousands of miles to pursue the calling of hospital chaplaincy. He is truly walking by faith in following God’s call to the the road less traveled. May we all find inspiration in those who are different, and may we experience the sacred spaces of the divine with those with whom we disagree.

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Pray

God, our prayer this day is one of thanksgiving. Thank you for those who are different, so we may see the world through a new lens. Thank you for the unique, for revealing new perspectives. Thank you for the opposites, for showing us a bigger vastness of you. Help us to see others as brothers and sisters in your creation. Cleanse our hearts from judgmental thoughts. After all, who are we to judge another? Today, may our prayers bring glory to your name. May we find the sacred spaces of your love through improbable bonds. Amen.

Go with God.