August 23rd Devotion

“Whoever serves me must follow me. Wherever I am, there my servant will also be.” John 12: 26

Each time I go for a run I must pause so my watch can connect with the GPS (Global Positioning Satellite). This waiting to connect I often find annoying. I’m ready to go for my run to get on with my day. My watch won’t connect unless I stand with my arm out a bit so it can find the signal. It takes forever some days. By forever, I mean like up to a minute! However, the time seems to be much longer because I’m just standing there – not moving. It feels like I’m doing nothing.

Doing nothing has become the cardinal sin of Christians everywhere. How can we justify doing nothing. When we are constantly on the move for whatever reason and our mental state is constantly running through the list of all we want to do, we are not present to the moment. Being present is a spiritual task. Being present is becoming aware and awake to only the moment we are in. Pausing is the way of bringing ourselves out of our chronic movement to realign with something bigger than our schedules. My GPS watch reminds me of that every time.

Spiritually speaking, when we are constantly moving and telling everyone all the wonderfully busy things, we have to do we are running on ego. We are more concerned with proving ourselves through our activities than connecting with God. I like to think of it as another GPS – “God Positioning System”. How connected are we with God? How aware are we of God’s presence in our lives? How awake are we to the Divine in our midst? Our “God Positioning System” creates a shift in us, a transformation of understanding our constant connection to God. Just like Jesus said, “Wherever I am, there my servant will be.” Wherever we are God is with us even when we don’t notice. Noticing makes a huge difference in our living. Like running it can ease anxiety, improve heart function and clear our heads. Some days I just choose pausing without the running.

So pause. Do nothing. Connect to your Holy GPS. A connection where we need prove nothing and are loved exponentially.

Faithfully Yours,

Rev. Wendy