Stop. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders and unwind your mind. Think about your life—all the parts of it. Dismiss what troubles you and think about your cherished blessings.

Most likely we all experience something different when we do this, but I find my mind still darting around from one part of my life to another. It races briefly into my business and the desires I have for it, it reverts for a moment on this piece I am writing then jumps into the duties of today and all I hope it brings. I think of travel plans for the coming weeks, and of opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. I think about Janice and our family and the issues that each of them faces, and I say a brief prayer for them all. I think about the many compartments of life that divide moments in time from the others. And I wonder; I wonder.

I wonder if Jesus’ mind ever danced about like mine. I wonder if he was ever as unclear about how to use each day as I am. And I wonder if the choices He made each day were clearer and more focused than the ones I make.

Here is what I know. Each day is a blessing of life. Each day provides opportunities to love others and to help make the world a better place. Each day we touch the lives of those around us in ways we never dream. And the small segments of time that seem to compartmentalize our lives each day fit together into one piece. Together they can blend into a lifetime of ministry if we choose to use them that way.

We may view life as a sequence of unrelated pieces, but the pieces can come together into a lifetime of ministry—to love God with all your heart, to share the love of God with those around you, and to go into all the world and make disciples.

Stop. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders and unwind your mind. Think about your life—all the parts of it. Dismiss what troubles you and think about your cherished blessings.

Can you see how your life might blend into a lifetime of ministry? If not, maybe you should look again. If you can…

Praise be to God.

 

“You are the light of the world.”