Focus

Take a few minutes to push the “pause” button on whatever is going on around you and be still with God.

Read

2 Corinthians 13:11-13 New International Version (NIV)

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
Greet one another with a holy kiss. All God’s people here send their greetings.

Reflect

My mother had uncanny “mommy-powers.” Many moms do. One of her “mommy powers” was juggling two or three conversations up in the air – each one all-important to the speaker (usually one of us kids) and addressing them all with uncanny precision. And you knew which answer was yours. Paul does the same thing in this critical, last-chance charge to the Corinthians, which ends the book of 2 Corinthians. He instructs: “Rejoice, restore, encourage, be one-minded, live in peace, play really nice.”

The last thing Paul wrote sticks out: “All God’s people here send their greetings.” Another thing about mom’s super-power. She usually managed to end her convo-juggling with words that let me know her care didn’t end there. “Now, run along,” she’d say. Or, “I love you.” Paul does the same thing: “All my peeps say, “hi.”
God is always doing that for us, to us, through us. We don’t always realize it, but that’s not important. What’s important is that God’s care and love for you and me never stops. And at the end of all of God’s communication, He reminds us: “Oh, all my people here send their greetings.”

Pray

Hey God, This is Jim. Thanks for all the ways you show Yourself to be the best Parent. Thank You for always listening to me, even though I often do not listen to You. Thank you for the directions, even when I try to chart my own path. I know You, the God of peace, are always with me. Amen.

Go with God!