30th. April. 2022. Daily Devotion.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. ~ Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

“The two most important days in your life are the day that you are born… and the day you find out why.” ~ Mark Twain.

One would hardly think of Mark Twain as a Christian apologist, but here we have him in a rare moment of sincerity; the most sarcastic man one can imagine, and yet he stopped for a moment and realized, that understanding the reason why you are born is the greatest moment in your life.

So let us rejoice together. We know where we are going and what we are supposed to do. We can let go of the anxiety and depression that beset the modern world. We must suffer many things, but here is something we can be thankful for, today and every day. Christ has given us purpose, and it is purpose that we will follow all our days, that will extend even as our bodies get old and feeble; our soul, and thus our true self, will forever stay vital and fresh.

Lord God, I thank you for giving me real purpose in my life, and I pray you will remind me to be thankful for it every day. Amen.

Guide and govern your Church, O Lord, that we may walk warily in times of quiet and boldly in times of danger; through Christ our Lord. Amen. Franciscan Breviary (13th century)

Holy God, our experience of pandemic and lockdown has made us rethink the meaning of place. So often we have focused on buildings and how we make others welcome in those places. But the place where we all really need to be is in your arms of love, in your family and in your kingdom. For in your arms, your family, and your kingdom there is not just room for all, but a role for all.
Inspire us with a fresh vision of how we can invite others into that place of encounter with you, offering welcome, forgiveness, grace and joy. Thank you for the promise of a place where each of us belongs and where you dwell among us. Amen.

For Guidance

Mighty Lord, there are marvellous things that I do not know, nor can I comprehend: things that happen in my life, and things that happen in my friends’ lives, and things that happen in the world. I pray to be thankful when I hear of all of them, to appreciate everything that comes across my path. So often life hurts, and I get angry or upset; I do not understand, yet you ask me to be thankful for everything, and have faith. I thank you now, Lord, for all those occasions when I have forgotten or have been so caught up in emotions that I could not. Help me to be thankful, I pray, when the rains come on the just and the unjust, that you care so much about me, that the rains come to chasten, to build character and godliness in me. And help me to live as a mirror of your Son, so that I might reach others. Amen.